


Is The Truth A Good Thing?

by CartoonLover



Series: The Truth Can Be A Scary Thing [4]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Della's back, Family Drama, Gen, I'm aware I'm writing too much DuckTales, Probably angst at some point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-06-10 01:44:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 35,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15280839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CartoonLover/pseuds/CartoonLover
Summary: Della is back but is she what she appears to be?





	1. The Adventure Begins...

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

Three figures jumped up with a start and groaned, 

"Huey turn off your stupid alarm clock!" Dewey rubbed his head angrily Louie simply groaned again and planted his face in his pillow. Huey turned it off and rolled his eyes at the both of them before climbing down the ladder to Dewey's bed.

"Come on Dewey time to get up." He said as he pulled his blanket off of him.

"I'm up!" Huey climbed down again and examined Louie for a few seconds before gently shaking him.

"Ugh." 

"Have a nice sleep?" 

"I was until I was interrupted."  Louie replied but got anyway, the three of them walked downstairs for breakfast with Dewey trying to slide down the rail and Huey stopping him, Louie would've been right there with him if he wasn't so tired. As they made their way to the kitchen they noticed they weren't the last ones there, Scrooge and Webby had yet to show up. They sat down after saying good morning to Donald and Huey and Dewey started a conversation while Louie tried not to fall back asleep. Mrs. Beakley served them breakfast and then went to go get Scrooge and Webby Louie slowly started to wake up as they all ate and joined the conversation with his brothers.

"Good morning!" Webby cheerfully came into the dining room, sat down next to the triplets, and started eating. Scrooge trudged in a few seconds later and barely gave them a nod in greeting before he grabbed the newspaper and started to eat. The triplets shared a look before shrugging and Donald just rolled his eyes; the rest of breakfast carried on peacefully and soon everyone was off doing their own things. Donald kissed the boys on the head before heading off to work they put up a show of being annoyed but secretly liked it. 

"Bye Uncle Donald!" 

"Bye boys,  _behave_." They rolled their eyes but nodded and he smiled at them as he walked out. 

"What now?" 

Dewey puts his arms around both of his brothers, "Boys I have the perfect idea!"  

"Wow, this is the perfect idea." Louie said as he and his brothers watched TV. 

"Tooold you!" 

"Have yew lads been in here all day?" Questioned Scrooge as he walked in a few hours later the boys didn't acknowledge him. He rolled his eyes and stood in front of the TV, they groaned and tried to see around him.

"Ye cannae just sit in here all day! Yew have ta actually do somethin'." 

"This is something!" 

"Somethin' productive." He shooed them off the couch and turned the TV off they groaned again but left the room. 

"Now then there's plenty round here ta do why dinnae ye go find Webbigail?" 

"Have we seen Webby since breakfast?" Dewey and Louie shook their heads, "Huh." 

"Should we be worried?" 

"It's Webby she's probably crawling around the vents again." 

Huey shrugged, "We should probably still check." He and Dewey ran upstairs and Louie groaned before following them. Scrooge rolled his eyes, that boy...  

* * *

 After the boys looked around for awhile they determined Webby was off being Webby or with Lena like she had been a lot lately and they started to explore the house.

"Isn't this Uncle Donalds old room?" 

"Yeah wonder why he moved out."

"Cause Beakley kept getting to him." Dewey shrugged and walked in the other two looked at each other before following him. They looked around and Dewey got a mischievous look on his face before jumping on the bed. Huey glanced at the wall the bed was on and noticed something weird about it.

"Guys look at this." They joined him and looked at the wall.

"A wall." 

"No look closer it looks like... it's been sealed, right here see?" He pointed to a spot, "It's like someone was trying to hide something." 

"Or close something off." They both looked at Dewey, "Cause it goes along this way too." He felt down the wall thoughtfully.

"It's a door." Louie said as he felt down the other side. 

"Was there a door next door?" They peaked outside and looked to the left, there was no door but a closer look revealed that there had been one there before. 

"This is really weird." 

"Huey, is there a way to unseal it?"  

"Probably." 

"The only way I can think off would be to rip the paper." 

"So why don't we?" 

"Cause Uncle Scrooge'll kill us, it's sealed for a reason Dewford." 

"I would like to know the reason, Hubert." Louie rolled his eyes and at the both of them and started ripping.

"Louie!" 

He stopped, "What? We want to find out don't we?" Dewey grinned and started to help him, Huey sighed and started to help as well. Once they got done a door was revealed which meant they had been right they looked at each other before walking in. 

"It's another bedroom!" Louie groaned, "We did all that work for a bedroom!" 

"But if it's just a normal bedroom why was it sealed off?" Huey and Dewey shared a look, it wasn't normal. They started to look around and Dewey found a picture on the dresser,

"Mom?" The other two looked at him and raced over, sure enough, it was their mom in that photo, along with Uncle Donald. 

"This was mom's room." 

"Boys!" They suddenly heard from downstairs they froze for a second before they raced down to see Donald looking at them with a raised eyebrow. 

"What were you up to?" 

"Nothing!" Dewey and Louie said simultaneously and Louie subtly nudged Huey before he could say anything. Donald nodded disbelievingly and continued to walk down the foyer.

"How was work?"  

"Exhausting."

The boys shared a look, "Maybe you should quit."

"Yeah it's not like we need the money." 

Donald looked down at them, "Yes we do I'm not a freeloader and I'm not taking Scrooge's money. Not that he would give it to me." He muttered that last part under his breath and only Huey caught it, the other two were busy scheming but Donald knew that look, he had raised them after all.

"Whatever you're planning, stop we need this job." 

"Yes Uncle Donald." 

"So what did you boys do today?" 

* * *

After dinner and watching TV for a couple of hours Donald sent the boys up to bed and went with them to make sure they actually went to bed. After he told them goodnight he walked out of their room and sighed, letting his exhaustion show for the first time, this job was brutal more brutal than any other job he's had before and he wanted nothing more than to quit but he knew that wasn't possible.

'We need this job.' He kept repeating to himself as he trudged down the hall, 'We need this job.'

"So we're totally getting him fired right?" Louie asked from his bunk, fully awake, they may have gone to bed but that didn't mean they went to sleep. 

"Yerp but the question is how?" 

"Guys maybe we shouldn't Uncle Donald's right we need this job as much as we all hate it."

"So why doesn't Uncle Scrooge just give him a job?"

"Who says he'd even take it?"

"He would if he had to, he always puts us above his pride."

"It's better than the alternative, his job now." 

Huey peered down at his brothers, "What's the plan?" As they discussed said plan they had somehow all ended up in Louie's bed where they ended up falling asleep and where Donald had found them when he checked in on them before he went to work. 

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

**BEEP!**

Huey had gone to turn off the alarm but had found he was trapped and looked to see Dewey sprawled across him and Louie and had suddenly remembered he fell asleep in Louie's bed. He untangled himself from the pile and climbed the bunk to turn off the alarm before it could wake either of them up, they had a long night the least he could do was let them sleep a little longer. Too bad he didn't get the same luxury.  

As he went downstairs he thought about the plan they came up with it was simple enough, get Uncle Scrooge to give Uncle Donald a job and then find a way to get Uncle Donald fired. But actually putting it into action? That may be a little harder sure they had made up a little bit and were on better terms but their relationship was rocky at best and no one could see that better than Huey. 

"Good morning lad." Uncle Scrooge said as he walked into the kitchen he greeted him back and went to sit next to Webby.

"Where are Dewey and Louie?" 

"We had kind of a late night so I'm letting sleep in."

"Well yew better go wake them up! We've got an adventure ta get ta!" 

"You had me at adventure!" Dewey said as he and Louie walked in the latter looking like a zombie as he sat next to Huey.

"So what kinda adventure we talking? Booby traps? Dangerous pits? 200 feet cliffs?!" 

"It wouldn't be an adventure if those things weren't there now would it?" Webby and Dewey cheered but Huey looked apprehensive and was about to say something when the front door interrupted him, they all looked at each other and got up to see what it was. 

"Donald lad what are yew doin' home?"

"I got fired." Huey and Dewey looked at Louie and he shrugged. 

"What? I work fast." 

Scrooge clapped a hand on his back, "Perfect yew change join us!" The boys cheered but Donald raised an eyebrow,

"Join you where?" 

"No! No no no!" Donald said as everyone started to get on the plane but he was pretty much ignored.

"Oh come on lad it'll be fun!" 

"No I am not letting you take the kids  _there_." 

"Where's there?" Huey asked from behind him he jumped and turned to see the kids watching them. He started to stutter up an answer but Scrooge interrupted him. 

"Lanchpad set a course! We're going to Dalmena!" The kids cheered but Donald glared at Scrooge and was about to call the whole thing off. 

"Okay off we go!" Launchpad took off and Donald groaned, great he was going back to the place he said he'd never return to and worse the boys were with him. 

Just great. 


	2. The Adventure Ends But a New One Begins...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Della is found but it comes with a price...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow my Tumblr for updates: starshinewriter.

The kids were chatting excitedly but Donald was filled with dread as they flew closer and closer to Dalmena. 

"Uncle Donald are you okay?" He jumped and looked at Huey who had asked him the question and he smiled fakely at him, the last thing he wanted was to worry them. 

"I'm fine just don't really feel like crashing today." Huey nodded understandingly and went back to his conversation. Donald sighed in relief and glared at Scrooge's back, why was he doing this? Why was he bringing them here? 

Everyone jumped as the plane crash landed and after making sure the kids were okay Donald glared at Launchpad who was looking at the controls.

"Well looks like we'll be here a while!" Donald groaned. 

Great. 

Scrooge led the kids out of the plane and they quickly turned to awe as they saw the temple, 

"The temple of Dalmena where a great treasure is said to be held." 

"Treasure? What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Donald quickly grabbed Louie and pulled him back as he glared. 

"Yew cannae just run in there lad! There are all sorts o' traps!" 

"Traps?!" This time Webby and Dewey ran forward and Scrooge grabbed them.

"Yes ae know it's very exciting but it's also very dangerous, stay behind me." They both groaned as they were thrusted behind him and Huey patted them consolingly. The three of them looked around the temple with excitement when they walked in but Louie stayed closed to Donald, he and adventure did not mix very well. He just wanted to find the treasure and get out. Too bad most of his family didn't feel the same way.

As they walked along Dewey and Webby were set on setting off every trap much to the exhaustion of Scrooge and Donald. Meanwhile, Huey was looking up stuff in his guidebook and talking excitedly to Louie who, if you didn't know him very well, looked like he was only half listening, but listening to Huey ramble calmed him down and Huey knew that. Louie was suddenly jerked back by Huey after he noticed the path next to them was crumbling and he subtly clung to him, he really didn't like adventures. 

"Did ye know tha' this temple is over 500 years old? The whole thing should be in shambles!" 

"Why's it not?"

"No one knows." 

"Well if it was built well it's no surprise, many people made temples with the intent for it to last forever so people would always have a place for religious or spiritual practices. Though from what I know no one's been here in years." 

"Wonder why." Donald grit out he then ushered the kids along, like Louie he wanted to hurry up and get out of there unlike him he did not want to find the treasure. The last time the treasure was found something horrible happened. Scrooge suddenly stopped as they entered a new room and they quickly saw why, an old rickety drawbridge that looked like it was two seconds from falling apart. 

"We'll have tae take this in pairs, the whole thing may collapse otherwise!" Louie let out a small squeak and clutched onto Donald's shirt he sighed and patted him on the head, Huey and Dewey looked at each other,

"Guess that settles whose going with Uncle Donald." 

After Webby and Scrooge crossed Donald started to cross with Louie clutching on to his side with his hand, he tried to reassure him it would be okay but it was clear he wouldn't feel better until they crossed. The bridge suddenly started to shake and everyone froze but sighed with relief when nothing happened. Donald started to walk a little faster gently bringing Louie along with him. When they finished crossing Louie almost collapsed and immediately went to his Uncles side. Huey and Dewey shared a look and started to cross Louie tried not to look worried but Donald did nothing to hide his. 

Dewey was oddly serious as they crossed seems he saw how scared Louie was and just wanted to get across so they could continue on but Huey was in front of him so he couldn't go too fast but maybe that was for the best he didn't feel like falling anytime soon. He let out a yelp as his foot fell from under him he quickly grabbed Huey who grabbed him back and they continued onwards, both letting out a sigh when they made it across before they were grabbed into a hug courtesy of their Uncle Donald. 

As they continued on Huey noticed their uncle getting more and more anxious but couldn't understand why this wasn't the worst adventure they had ever been on, contrary to what Louie might say, and he had been fine on those, well fine as he could be. So what made this trip different? 

He caught up with his uncle, "Uncle Donald are you okay?" Donald jumped out of thought and looked down to see Huey worriedly staring at him, he wasn't surprised he noticed something was up the boys had always been naturally perceptive but he still didn't want to worry them. He looked back to see Dewey and Louie talking about something while occasionally looking at the two of them and sighed before drawing Huey close to him,

"I'm fine just... this isn't a good place." 

"Why?"

"A few years ago something terrible happened here and I always told myself I'd never come back or bring you boys."

"Oh." 

"So why'd Uncle Scrooge bring us?" He asked instead of the obvious, 'what happened?' he knew better than to ask that. 

Donald squeezed him, "I wish I knew Huey." 

* * *

"The treasure room. Dinnae touch anythin'." Scrooge directed that last part at Louie who rolled his eyes, the six of them were currently standing outside the treasure room waiting for Scrooge to open the door. 

"What's the point then?" 

"We don't know if anythings cursed, you do remember what happened last time right?" Huey asked him with a raised eyebrow, he rolled his eyes again but subtly stepped back. Scrooge opened the door and the kids rushed in, Huey grabbing Louie before he could touch anything.

"I was only gonna touch a little bit!" 

This time Huey rolled his eyes, "No chances." Donald looked around and started tapping his foot while Scrooge read the inscription, he really wanted to get out of here but since they were in the treasure room he was the only one.  After a few mintues he finally had enough and marched up to Scrooge.

"Why are we here?"

Scrooge looked at him shocked, "Why an adventure o' course!"  

"Why here?!" 

"...Dont'cha think it was high time?" 

"No! Not here!" The kids looked at each other while the adults fought, worried when Dewey noticed something and started walking towards it. 

"Mom?" Everyone turned towards Dewey sure enough there was Della Duck holding the Spear of Selene, encased in a block of some sorts everyone went silent to shocked to say anything.

"We have to get her out there's a way to get her out right?" Dewey finally asked and turned towards Scrooge and Donald who were still too shocked to say anything, annoyed Dewey jumped into action and tried to break the block the other kids quickly following his lead, this jumped the adults out of their shock,

"Wait!" Donald said, "Don't mess with that! We don't know what will happen!" But he was ignored and soon the block started to break apart causing the room to start shaking everyone shrieked and the kids grabbed each other as rubble started to fall when everything stopped everyone froze,

"Kids?" Scrooge called worriedly. 

"We're okay!" He sighed in relief and walked towards them when he suddenly stopped there on the ground, looking around dazed was Della alive and well, well as well as she could be she looked back at him.

"Uncle Scrooge?" Whatever he was about to say back was interpreted by a cry,

"Uncle Donald!" He turned to see what caused the cry in all the chaos they had forgotten about Donald who had somehow gotten himself trapped under a big piece of rubble, he was unconscious and barely looked like he was breathing. Scrooge quickly jumped into action and started to lift the rubble off of him, the kids went to help but Scrooge shrugged them off they, however, would not be deterred and started to help him. 

Once they got the rubble off Scrooge lifted Donald up and as soon as Della got a better hold of herself she went to help. They found another, quicker way out of the temple and quickly walked to the plane where Launchpad was waiting for them.

"Launchpad is the plane ready to go?" 

Launchpad, who noticed the unconscious Donald nodded seriously and started up the plane as they walked inside, Scrooge put Donald in a seat and went to help Della who looked like she would pass out any second. They took off and Scrooge went to give Launchpad directions, Huey and Webby set to helping Donald in any way they could, both had an intensive knowledge of first-aid and Dewey started comforting Louie who had burst out into tears the minute they took off. 

"He'll be okay Lou, it's Uncle Donald! He's not gonna go down without a fight and he's not gonna leave us." He had started rubbing his back while holding him in his arms and trying not to cry himself, he had to be strong he had to. After Huey and Webby finish patching Donald up Huey joins them and immediately gathers his little brothers in his arms.

"Huey..." Dewey whispered and looked up at him scared before also starting to cry and Huey was quick to join them, they sat there the rest of the plane ride crying and comforting each other. When they arrived back at the manor Launchpad and Scrooge grabbed Donald and everyone else followed after them when Beakley noticed them she quickly led them to a vacant room, she noticed Della of course but now was not the time for that. 

"Who patched him up?" Huey and Webby raised their hands and Beakley nodded,

"Good job." She checked him over and turned to the others who were waiting anxiously, "He'll be fine in a lot of pain for a while and bedridden but fine." They all sighed in relief and Beakley started to push them out, "It really is best to leave him alone until he wakes up he needs the rest." But the boys refused to be moved. Louie started to cry again and Huey and Dewey gave the others a death glare, they sighed and agreed to let them stay. After they left Huey pulled up a chair and they climbed into it and stared at their uncle, waiting for him to wake up. 

* * *

A few days passed before Donald woke up and during those days everyone was a wreck, the triplets especially they had refused to leave his side and would scream or cry anytime someone tried to make them. Because of this, they had barely seen Della except when she was with Donald, they had mixed feelings about her but were too worried about Donald to think about them. 

The boys were passed out when they heard a groan, they woke up and looked to see Donald groggily looking around,

"Uncle Donald!" They cheered and carefully hugged him he quickly came to his senses and hugged them back before slightly wincing, the boys pulled back guilty.

"Sorry."

Donald was quick to reassure them, "It's fine. What happened?" He listened closely as they explained everything from arriving at Dalmena to finding Della. 

"Should we get the others in here?" Dewey asked as they finished up the story, Donald tried to sit up and all three boys were quick to help him he smiled gratefully, he couldn't ask for better kids. 

"That's probably for the best." The boys nodded but didn't get up they looked at each other for a few seconds and it was clear they didn't want to leave him. 

"I'll be fine, go." Huey and Dewey left but Louie stayed, he didn't expect any less Louie had always been a sensitive kid and he knew this hit him pretty hard.

"I thought we were gonna lose you. We all did." 

Donald looked at him and grabbed his hand, "Louie I'm not going anywhere." Louie looked up at him and smiled he smiled back but the moment was ruined when Huey and Dewey came back bringing the others with them. Beakley gave him a quick checkup as the others started asking him all sorts of questions after assuring everyone he was fine he turned to Della.

"Donnie..." She said tearfully she ran to him and hugged him he hugged her back and they both started sobbing, everyone else watched on trying not to also cry. The boys looked at each other Della was back, 

But was it a good thing? 


	3. Patience is a Virtue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Della explains everything but does everyone forgive her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this story is a bit outdated after 'the last crash of the sunchaser' but I'm still gonna write it.
> 
> Sorry for the hiatus I've been preoccupied but I'm back and regular updates will continue!

"I think you have some things to explain lass." Scrooge told Della after her and Donald separated and she completely agreed. She got up and started to explain everything, how she knew the spear was cursed, how she didn't ask for help because she didn't want anyone to get hurt, and how by the time she knew what the spear really did it was too late. When she finished she looked at everyone waiting for a response and eventually she got one but not one she was expecting,

"I have to go." Huey said before walking out his brothers looked at each other worriedly and called after him but he didn't respond they looked at Donald who nodded,

"Go." He said and they ran out Della sighed and sat in the chair her boys had previously occupied.

"You just have to give them some time Dells." Donald said reassuringly and she nodded before grabbing his hand.

"I love you Donnie." 

"Love you to Dells." 

Huey stormed to his room ignoring his brother's calls and sighed, he really didn't know what to think about all this and he didn't like that. His whole life he always knew exactly what he thought about everything it was the thing he prided himself on and he knew it was the one thing his brothers counted on, for Huey to be levelheaded, Huey always knew what to do, he knows everything! But he didn't and he didn't know how to handle this, he didn't know anything. 

Dewey sighed as he tried to open their door, it was locked they never locked it.

"Why's it locked?" Louie asked quietly. Dewey studied him for a moment before answering, he didn't look too good, none of them did but Louie was always the most sensitive of the three of them and he constantly found himself worrying about him, not that he'd tell him that.

"I don't know Lou, Huey open the door!" He said banging on it.

"Go away!" 

"Dude come on, talk to us!" 

"There's nothing to talk about!" Louie rolled his eyes at his brothers arguing and started to pick the lock, after a few seconds he heard a click and opened the door with a smile, Dewey gave him a thumbs up and they both walked in. Huey rolled his eyes when he saw them walk in and laid stomach down on Louie's bed, he didn't have the energy to get to his own. His brothers joined him on either side and they sat in silence for a few seconds. 

"I don't know if I can forgive her, she left us. I know she said she didn't want anyone to get hurt but why was she messing with the spear in the first place?" 

"... We could ask her."

"You guys can if you want, I don't want to see her right now." 

"Fair enough." 

"I just don't get it if I knew something was cursed I wouldn't even touch it, let alone steal it." 

"I probably would." 

"Which is why we don't leave you alone." 

"Louie?" Dewey questioned when he noticed he had been unusually quiet during the conversation.

He jumped and looked at them, "I'm good just thinking." 

"About...?" 

"Why didn't she ask for help? I still don't understand it even if I knew something was cursed I would want help figuring it out," He let out a humorless chuckle, "That sounds a bit selfish." 

"Not at all. _She_ was selfish." 

"How is asking for help selfish Lou?" Dewey asked quietly and he shrugged, it sounded selfish letting the people you love get hurt just to figure something out but he would still want the help, that made it really selfish. 

"You've always been the one to agree that family helps each other out, no matter what, why are you suddenly doubting that?" 

"I don't want to be selfish." He whispered his brothers shared a look before they started to comfort him, Huey flipped over so that Louie was now in the middle and they both pulled him close to them.

"You are not selfish. Asking for help is never selfish, not asking is, thinking you can solve every problem on your own that's selfish. You're not selfish, you're the furthest thing from it." 

Louie smiled, he may not fully believe that but if his brothers said it then it had to be true. 

As he ran his fingers through Louie's feathers on his head Huey started to think, he didn't know if he could forgive her she abandoned them, abandoned Uncle Donald, left him with three kids he had no idea how to raise, you just didn't do that. She tore this family apart, twice! All for some stupid spear, he couldn't forgive something like that. 

Huey wasn't the only one who was thinking, Dewey didn't want to admit it but he was having similar thoughts to his older brother. He could kinda see her reasoning but at the end of the day he would always put his family first, he was raised by his Uncle Donald after all. He wanted answers for so long and now he had some, he didn't know what to do or think, he wanted to forgive her, he wanted for everything to be okay but it wasn't that easy. 

* * *

The next few days were spent by Donald recovering and everyone visiting him, the boys the most, and by the end of the week he was up again, granted he had to walk with a cane but he was up and that was what mattered. Tensions around the house were escalated as everyone tried to get used to each other, Della had a lot to catch up on, ten years of stuff in fact. She knew absolutely nothing about her boys except their names and was determined to fix that. 

Hopefully they would let her.

She wasn't blind, she knew they didn't particularly like her right now and as much as it hurt she understood why and she would anything in her power to change that. She walked into the den where she knew they were and looked at them, the one in red, Huey was reading some guidebook, Dewey, the one in blue, was playing with a Rubix cube upside down and that left Louie, the one in green, who was doing something on his phone. 

"Hi boys." She said softly making them quickly look at her, "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." Huey said stiffly turning back to his book, she sighed and walked in more. 

"What are you reading?" He simply showed her to cover, she realized she wouldn't get anywhere with him and turned to Dewey.

"Cool Rubix cube."

"Uncle Donald got it for me, to help me focus."

"That was nice of him."

"Yerp." She turned to Louie but he turned away before she could ask him something. 

"You're angry, you have every right to be. I suppose you have a lot of questions for me."

"Why Lleweylln?" She looked at him ignoring his brothers snickering. 

"Of all the names, why Lleweylln?" 

"It's a good name!" She defended, Huey and Dewey burst out laughing and just for a moment everything felt normal. 

Too bad it couldn't last. 

"Why did you mess with the spear?" Huey questioned and three of them looked at her. 

She sighed, "When we first found it Uncle Scrooge said not to mess with it, naturally that just made me want to. I was just so curious about what it did and why we _couldn't_ mess with it but I didn't want to put anyone in danger just to satisfy my curiosity so I didn't. I do regret it I missed out on so much and I can never get that back but I can start now, if you'll let me?" 

"I can't." Huey said clenching his fists, "You left us, all of us! I can't forgive that." She looked at his brothers but they refused to look at her.

"I understand." She said getting up, "Just know that am I sorry and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to everyone." She walked out and the boys fell into silence, Louie started sniffling and Huey sighed and pulled him to him while Dewey watched where their mom had left, uncertain. 

Dinner was an awkward affair but that was to be expected, it was also Donald's first dinner with all of them since he got hurt. The kids were conversing with each other except Huey who was oddly silent, Donald made a mental note to talk to him later. The adults, however, were not talking, they didn't know what to say to each other but if the kids noticed they didn't say anything. 

"I'm full," Huey said standing up making everyone look at him. "Can I be excused?"

"Sure." Donald answered before Della could making her frown, Huey nodded and walked off and his brothers seemed to have a mental conversation. 

"I'll go talk to him." Donald said also getting up and leaving, he went up to the boy's room and knocked,

"Huey?" 

"It's open." He walked in and looked at Huey who was laying on his bed stomach down. 

"What's going on Huey?" 

"I can't be down there pretending like everything's normal, it's not! There's a stranger at that table and no one cares!"

"She's your mom-"

"No she's not! I have no mom." 

Donald nodded, "I'm sorry you feel that way but you're not the only one who's mad." 

"...Uncle Donald?" 

"You're not the only one she left Huey, she left us all and it hurt, so badly but she's trying. We can't change the past but we can decide the future, what do want your future to be Huey?" 

He didn't think he knew.

* * *

Later that night Dewey and Louie walked in and noticed Huey had fallen asleep. They both climbed up to his bed and pulled his covers over him before they settled down next to him. They were worried about him, they knew he had taken everything really hard. 

"Do you think you can, forgive her?" Louie asked Dewey quietly he thought for a few seconds before answering,

"I don't know Lou I know if you guys didn't want me to go near a cursed object I wouldn't but I'm not her."

"No, you're not." 

Dewey smiled at him, "Thanks Lou-Lou. What about you, you think you can forgive her?"

"Maybe, I always wondered what having a mom would be like."

"Me too." They heard footsteps come in and looked to see their Uncle Donald who smiled at the sight of them.

"Just came in to say goodnight."

"Goodnight." They both said sleepily before laying back down which made him chuckle.

"Goodnight." He said back and turned off the light then quickly turned on the nightlight before Louie could get too scared. He limped out and, for the first time in months, walked to his old room before he made a quick decision and went to the door next to it knocking quietly. 

"Come in." He did and got a smile from the occupant when she noticed who it was, he smiled back hesitantly. 

"Donnie, what's up?" 

"I wanted to talk, just us."

She sighed, "I figured this was coming." 

"Della, of all the things you could've done-"

"I know, I know! I let my curiosity get the better of me and I messed with it even after you told me not to, I should've listened."

"You should have." Donald agreed as he crossed his arms. 

"I've missed so much, don't you think that's punishment enough?" She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I don't know Della I really don't." 

She stood up, "I'm trying here Donnie can't you see that?"

"I can but you really hurt everyone you have to do more than try and I can't bail you out this time." 

"I don't want you to this is my mess I have to clean it up, I just want to make things right again." 

"I know Della," He hugged her, "I know." She hugged back, she missed this, she missed him. She started to cry, he sighed and rubbed her back they both knew she needed this.

After a few minutes she pulled away and wiped her eyes, "I'm going to fix this." 

And he knew she would when Della put her mind up to it she could do anything. 


	4. All Kinds Of Learning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Della tries to get to know her boys and they learn something new about someone.

The next morning Huey woke up and was surprised to see his brothers next to him. He smiled and went to turn off his alarm before it could go off but he must've moved around too much because Louie let out a quiet groan and covered his eyes with his arm, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep and groaned again when he couldn't.

"Good morning." Huey whispered cheerfully, Louie looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"What's so good about it?" 

"It's a new day!" 

"It's too early for you to be this cheerful." Louie said planting his face in the pillow Huey went to nudge him carefully, he didn't want to wake up Dewey too.

"How'd you sleep?" 

"Fine I guess. You?" 

"Pretty good, wanna go get breakfast?"

Louie shook his head, "No I can barely move right now, five more minutes or hours." He lifted his head and looked at him, "How are you feeling?" He asked carefully not wanting to upset him. 

"Pretty much the same I'm not gonna forgive her overnight." Louie sat up and curled into a ball, 

"Louie?" 

"I'm really confused, Hue." He admitted looking down Huey scooted closer to him and put an arm around his shoulder.

"About?" He prompted gently, 

"I always wanted a mom but after finding out what she did... I don't know maybe we were better off without her." 

"You're not the only one that confused, I want to hate her I really do but I don't, not completely. This is a new situation for everyone we just have to figure it out as we go but we're not splitting apart, not again we're gonna figure this together."

"Do you really think that?"

"I do. This family's better together than apart and that includes all of us, even her." 

"Don't you two think it's too early to be having a heart-to-heart?" A groggy voiced interrupted, they looked at Dewey who glared at them and shoved his face into the pillow they laughed quietly and Louie playfully messed with Dewey's hair.

"How dare you?" He said sitting up and got a mischievous look on his face before tackling Louie and tickling him.

"Ahh no no! Huey help!" He yelled laughing and Huey smiled, 

"Don't worry Louie I'll save you!" He started tickling Dewey who tried shoving him away but wasn't fast enough.

"No no! Get away! Get away!" But Huey ignored him and looked at Louie who was laughing at the two of them and also started tickling him.

"Ahh traitor!" Dewey and Louie looked at each other and nodded.

"Guys..." They quickly tackled him and started tickling him. 

"Ah guys guys! Stop!" They ignored him, "Uncle! Uncle!" He cried after a few seconds, they got off him and the three of them lay on the bed panting.

"That was fun." Dewey said sitting up and wiping a tear from his eye. He then fixed his hair which made the other two start laughing again he glared at them but didn't say anything.

"Oh it hurts!" Louie said holding his side as he tried to stop laughing. 

Dewey lightly shoved him, "You didn't have to laugh at me." 

"We're not laughing at you Dew we're laughing with you, only you're weren't laughing." Huey finished sheepishly with a nervous chuckle which made Louie pushed him back onto the bed. He flopped down with his limbs stretched out which made his brothers laugh, which made him laugh. After they goofed off for a few more minutes, they went downstairs for breakfast. 

* * *

When breakfast was over Donald started to get out of his chair,

"Do you need any help Uncle Donald?" Huey asked pausing the conversation the kids were having. 

"Not right now, thank you. I think I'm gonna go lay down for a while." The kids looked at him concerned but he waved it off, "I'm fine but the more rest I get the quicker I can recover." He kissed all of them on the head, including Webby who got a huge grin on her face afterwards, and headed upstairs. Scrooge went after him to make sure he was really okay, and Mrs. Beakley pulled Webby out to start her training for the day leaving the boys alone with Della. 

"So, what do you boys have planned for today?"

They shrugged, "Probably lounge around til Webby's done with her training." 

"Why?" Huey said skeptically. 

"I was hoping we could do something." 

The boys looked at each other and had a mental debate for a few seconds before Huey sighed and slouched in his seat. 

"Fine. But we're staying here, Uncle Donald might need our help." 

Della smiled, "That's fair." She got up, "Why don't we go hang out in the den?" The boys shrugged again and got up then they all walked to the den. 

"So what do you like to do?" Della asked when they all arrived in the den and sat on the couch they thought for a few seconds before Dewey answered,

"Well, we like going to Funzo's and to the ice cream shop, though we don't really go there a lot cause we keep getting temporary bans."

"Most of those are your fault."

"The parks pretty fun." He continued ignoring Huey, "And we like playing games with Webby, even if she takes it too far most times." 

"Doesn't Uncle Scrooge take you on adventures as well?"

Dewey quickly glanced at Louie, "We don't all like them." 

"Well," Della said as she placed her hands on her legs, "I used to love them, we used to go on like two a week! Oh it was so exciting, course Donald didn't always think so but that's Donnie for you." 

"Yeah Uncle Donald doesn't seem like the type to enjoy that."

"It's not that he didn't like them it's that he couldn't always keep up. Donnie loved going on them with us." 

The boys looked at each other, "Uncle Donald, that Uncle Donald?" Dewey said as he pointed out the room with his thumb, "The same Uncle Donald who wouldn't let Huey be a water boy without full football equipment or let me take my first steps without being on a mattress, that Uncle Donald?" 

"That's Donnie for ya."  

The boys looked at each other again, they really didn't know their Uncle. But, they were determined to fix that. 

"What else do you know about him?" 

Della looked at them as pulled her legs up and sat on them, "Did you know he was in the navy?" They shook their heads, "Yup for years, he only left after I got pregnant he wanted to help me prepare for motherhood."

"Cause that turned out well." Huey said bitterly crossing his arms. 

"Well if it wasn't me that raised you I wanted it to be him, he loved you three as much as I did, as much as I do. I'm glad he raised you he did a better job than I ever could."

"We know." 

Dewey nudged him, "You said you'd try." He whispered. 

"I did." He whispered back before looking at his brothers and sighing, "What else do you wanna know about us?" He questioned louder and Della smiled, 

"Everything." 

* * *

"Well," Dewey started, "I like going on adventures too and I like musicals and acting, I was in all the plays at our old school. I used to play on the soccer team, I like cooking, I'm not as good as Louie but it's still pretty fun. Umm, oh! And I love to sing." 

"I like treasure, if that isn't glaringly obvious by now," Louie spoke next, "And I like to draw and paint, it um, helps with my anxiety," His brothers looked at him surprised besides Donald they were the only ones who knew about that and they knew he didn't like talking about it. "I also like cooking but I'm not as good as Dewey says." 

Dewey made a disbelieving noise, "Yeah and I'm ugly." 

"You're supposed to be reassuring him." Huey teased.

"We have the same face!" Della and Louie watched as they bickered for a few seconds before he turned to her,

"Huey's a junior woodchuck, we all used to be but I decided it wasn't for me and Dewey dropped out so I wouldn't feel so alone, but don't tell him I know that." 

Della smiled, "Your secrets safe with me." The other two finally stopped bickering and turned to them,

"Guess it's my turn, I like mysteries and helping out around the house I used to do it all the time on the houseboat. I like also reading,"

"He once spent a whole day in Uncle Scrooge's library, it was crazy!" Dewey added on.

"And I'm the only one of us who actually likes school though Louie's really good at math." 

"I help Uncle Donald with his taxes." Louie added proudly Dewey lightly nudged him teasingly and he shoved him away annoyed, Dewey shoved him back and soon they were in a shoving war as Huey tried to pull them apart. Della watched all this with a bittersweet smile, she had missed ten years of this but she was determined to not miss anymore. 

"This is all so interesting!" 

"Yeah well, you would've known all this if you stayed around." 

"Huey..."  

"I'm sorry, I can't," He got up and walked out his brothers looked at each other and Dewey gave Della an apologetic look as they both followed after him. When they got to the foyer they saw Huey pacing back and forth muttering angrily and Webby watching him confused and worried. 

"Oh no Huey's broken." 

Louie groaned, "I hate when this happens." 

"I could try."

"Nah, won't be the same." 

"Think of sad thoughts like puppies dying or when I broke your action figure, oo guess that was the one." Dewey winced as Louie started to cry.

"That was you?!" 

Huey snapped out of his anger, "Louie? What's wrong?" 

"There's only one thing that snaps Huey out of it, learned that the hard way," Dewey said as he and Webby watched Huey try to calm him down,

"Why can't you do it?"

"Guess cause Louie cries more than me." After Huey got Louie to calm down he looked at them sadly. 

"I'm sorry I kinda freaked out back there, I just can't forgive her for this."

"We know..."

"Thanks for trying..." 

He smiled at the both of them, "Course, I'd do anything for you guys." 

"I guess we all have bad parents huh?" The triplets looked at Webby, "My parents, my parents didn't want me, decided they'd rather be spies. Good thing for people like Mr. Duck and Granny right?" 

The boys shared a glance, "Right." 

"Hey Webby?" Dewey said as she went to go upstairs she turned around at looked at them, "He's your uncle too, you know." 

"Oh, I, uh."

"It's okay we don't mind."

"Yeah you're like a sister to us." 

She grinned widely and squealed before she raced down to hug the three of them. They protested but it was merely for show and after a few seconds they hugged her back. 

They might not have had a mom they loved but they did have a sister. And in some ways they thought that was better. 


	5. All Kinds Of Learning Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Donald teaches Della about his boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to know what's been going on please check my Tumblr, starshinewriter!  
> 

Della paced around her room deep in thought when she was interrupted by a knock, 

"Come in!" The door opened to reveal Donald looking at her worriedly, he must've of heard the pacing. 

"What's going on Dells?"

She sighed, "I don't know what to do Donnie I've tried giving them space, I've tried getting to know them but nothing's working!" 

"You're talking about the boys."

"Yes, I don't know what to do!" 

"I don't know what to tell you, I can't make them like you."

"You can't even try?"

"Della..."

"I know, I know! Is there anything else you can do?"

Donald raised an eyebrow, "You said you were going to fix this." 

"I've tried! There isn't anything you can do? Anything at all?"

"Well... I could tell you more about them." 

"Yes! That sounds great!" She sat down on her bed and looked up at him expectantly. 

"Where to begin..." He rubbed his neck, "Well I should tell you there's no one they care more about than each other and there's nothing they won't do for each other, if one of them doesn't like you the others won't either. Huey takes being the oldest brother very seriously, even to his own detriment and he gets overwhelmed very easily. He has my temper which is... _great_ , and he likes to be prepared for any and all situations.

Dewey is a normal middle child, constantly wanting to stand out, he can be a little selfish at times but he would go above and beyond to keep the people he loves safe. He gets distracted easily and is very impulsive, more than anything he wants to be the hero of the story. Louie is the first to break into tears, real or fake, in any situation, he's the most sensitive of the group and very emotional. He can talk himself out of almost any situation and he looks up to his brothers even if he won't admit it. They're the best boys you could ask for."  

"They sound like it. You care for them a lot." 

"Of course I do, they're my boys." He said softly looking down, the room went quiet after that neither of them knowing what to say. Then the silence was suddenly broken by a crash outside the room.

"I'm okay!" A voice yelled and Donald started grumbling under his breath and went to check the damage while Della got lost in thought. His boys, that stung. But it was understandable, he did raise them but she knew they were hers and they would too soon enough. 

After he chased the kids away Donald started cleaning up the pieces of the vase they broke letting out a light curse when one of the pieces gave him a small cut. When he finished he noticed a head duck around the corner and sighed.

"Dewey."

He came out from behind the wall sheepishly, "Hey Uncle Donald." He gave an awkward wave and looked everywhere but his Uncle.

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm sorry we broke that vase, it was an accident."

"I know it was I just need to guys to be more careful, someone could've gotten hurt."

"Okay, we will." 

He gave him a grateful smile, "Thank you." 

Dewey also smiled then looked towards the door, "Have you been talking to mom? What about?" 

"She just wanted to more about you guys is all." 

He straightened up, "Oh, what'd you tell her? Good things I hope." 

"I told her how amazing you all are." 

Dewey gave the widest grin and rushed to hug him, "I love you Uncle Donald."

He hugged him back, "I love you to Dewey." 

* * *

A little while later Louie was seated in the den having used up all his energy for the day. He wasn't aware of the extra presence in the room until it sat next to him, he jumped up startled and looked next to him.

"Sorry lad didnae mean ta scare yew." Scrooge said with his hands raised. Louie sighed in annoyance and sunk back down putting his attention back on the tv. 

"Did you want something or...?" Louie question after a few moments not moving his attention to Scrooge and not seeing his surprised face, he always forgot how perceptive these kids could be. 

"Just want ta see how yew're doin' with all o' this." 

"Fine, I guess." 

"Ye guess?!" 

Louie looked at him, "Yes. I guess." He said forcefully and Scrooge hadn't known the boys long but he knew that meant he wanted him to drop it. He sighed and turned to the tv which made Louie nod and turn back to the tv as well. After a few minutes, someone else walked in but only Scrooge turned to see who it was,

"Della lass! What have ye been up ta?" 

"Oh nothing much what are you guys up to?" 

"We're watchin' whatever this is."

"Ottoman Empire now shhh!!" Louie raised a finger at them lazily which made Scrooge roll his eyes.

Della walked in front of the tv, "Maybe you've had enough tv for today?" She said as Louie tried to look around her to no avail.

He groaned, "Look I know you're trying to be a mom but I've only been here thirty minutes and I've been playing games all morning, I'm tired." 

She put a hand on her hip, "I'm not trying to be a mom I am a mom and I told you to do something." 

"No you didn't, all you said was I have had enough tv which I haven't." 

"Llewelyn Duck enough!" It went silent for a few seconds before Louie started to cry,

"Oh no." Said Scrooge you didn't make Louie cry, you just didn't. 

"Who wants to die?!" Dewey ran in and Louie immediately ran to him and he lightly pushed him behind him and he glared at the others as Louie clung to his back. 

"What's going on?" Huey asked as he ran in as well, he noticed his brothers and quickly set to coaxing Louie to let go of Dewey as he also glared at everyone. 

"There may have been a small disagreement." Della said after taking in the scene. 

Huey turned his attention to her, "Small disagreement? He's crying!" 

"I didn't mean to make him cry!" Louie jumped and his brothers glares' deepen as they started to lead him out of there. Della tried to follow but they stopped her,

"Don't you think you've done enough?" She hung her head down as they left she then turned to Scrooge but he shook his head and also left leaving her completely alone like she felt. 

Huey and Dewey tried to calm Louie down but he kept crying, they figured that this was his breaking point with everything going on and decided to wait it out. Eventually he stopped and rubbed his eyes not looking at them.

"Louie it's okay." 

"No, I,"

"We know you don't like being yelled at and we know this has been a long time coming, it's okay." 

He sighed, "She yelled at me and I wasn't even doing anything it was like she flipped a switch or something." His brothers looked at each other.

"What happened exactly?"

"I was watching tv and she walked in and started talking to Uncle Scrooge which annoyed me because I was doing something and they were ignoring it. She then said that maybe I'd had enough tv which I hadn't because I'd only been there thirty minutes and I spent the whole morning playing games with you guys and I needed a break. I told her that and she completely flipped out, full name and everything then you guys came in and now here we are." 

"That's all?" 

"What do you mean 'that's all'?!" 

"I mean that it seems like she yelled for no reason, you guys were just having a conversation."

"... I may have said she was trying to be a mom."

"Louie!" They both exclaimed which made him glare at them.

"What? I was annoyed! Uncle Scrooge had already tried to talk to me about everything and I just wanted to watch tv!" He flopped down on his pillow and put his hands under it. His brothers sighed and Huey put a comforting hand on his back. 

"He was worried about you, you're not exactly known for telling someone when something's wrong."  

"I know, and I know I shouldn't have said that." 

"You weren't exactly wrong," Dewey said making his brothers look at him confused, "What? She's been gone for ten years she's back one week and she's trying to tell us what to do?" He rolled his eyes, "Please."

"Be that as it may I know I'm not one to talk but you were pleasant enough to her before, what changed?" 

"Nothing, I told you I was just annoyed." 

"Louie..." 

He sighed again, "I don't know okay?! You don't like her..."

"That doesn't mean you can't." 

"You're just a really good judge of character and if you don't like someone there's usually a good reason." 

"Not this time."

Dewey placed a hand on him, "Her basically abandoning us is a good reason Hue." 

"I don't know if I like her, I'm confused-"

"So you lashed out." Huey realized and Louie nodded. They fell into silence as they started thinking all different things about the same person, Huey was mad Dewey was upset and Louie was just more confused. He looked at his brothers and decided, decided that he didn't have to come to a conclusion about her right away his family was already great, he leaned between his brothers and smiled,

"I love you guys." 

* * *

"Did you not hear me when I said he was sensitive?" When Donald heard what had happened he was furious and rightful so, he had made it a point to never yell at the boys, Louie especially. He always tried to have an open conversation with them and for the most part that had worked, there were a few times when it didn't but no system was perfect.

"I did I was just frustrated he wasn't listening to me!"

"They're ten Della they're not always gonna listen and you make it worse when you yell." He ran a hand down his face and sighed, "Just try to control your temper around them, if I can do it so can you. And apologize to Louie but not now he's probably still upset and Huey and Dewey definitely won't let you near him for a while."  

"Okay, I can do that." 

"For everyone's sake I hope that's true." Della looked down and didn't say anything else, in any other situation he would have felt bad for her but she hurt one of his boys and that just wasn't acceptable. 

"I'm going to check on him I'll see you at dinner." And with that, he walked out and to the triplets room. When he got there he knocked and waited for a response before walking in. After he got one he went in and took in the sight before him, they were all on Louie's bed Huey and Dewey sat on either side of him. It looked like he had interrupted their conversation which he felt bad about but he needed to see if they were all okay. 

"How are you feeling Louie?" 

"I've been better." He answered truthfully leaning his head on Dewey's shoulder, "I was upset and confused but now I'm just kind of tired." 

Donald nodded, "That's understandable, it's been a long couple of days." 

"I don't like her, she was mean to Louie." Dewey said drawing him closer and Huey nodded in agreement. 

"I know you're mad, you have every right to be, I am too. She made a mistake and she feels very bad about it and later when everything's calmed down she'll apologize. But there's no pressure for any of you to forgive her." He said pointedly to Louie who he knew had a problem with that when it came to family, the events of a couple of months ago serving as an example. 

"I already didn't like her this just made me not like her more."  

"I don't blame you guys for not being her biggest fans right now but who understands you guys more than each other?" They looked at each other and shrugged, "Exactly, no one. So trust me when I say that she loves you as much as she can, this is a tricky situation and mistakes are bound to be made, on both sides, but the thing to remember is that we love each other and that we're a family, all of us. You don't have to like her right now, no one's forcing you to all you need to know is that she's trying to make up for her mistakes."

"She's trying to parent us, that's your job." Dewey said crossing his arms stubbornly and the other two nodded in agreement. 

"It used to be but now it's both of ours." 

"She's not doing a very good job." Louie muttered speaking for the first time in a few minutes. 

"She's new to it. When you guys first hatched I had no idea what to do but I figured it out, it just took some time." 

"You didn't drop one of us did you?" 

"Umm..." They looked at him shocked then looked at each other to decide which one of them it was before deciding on Dewey who slumped back in the bed annoyed. 

"It's a long story but that's not the point! The point is I may have not been perfect but at least I was trying and so is Della." 

The boys looked at each other and Louie sighed, "If she willing to apologize I'm willing to hear her out but that's it."

"Okay, like I said no pressure just be sure if you do forgive her it's because you want and not because you feel like you have to." 

"I won't." 

"Uncle Donald," Huey said after a few seconds, "You two were really close before, are you still like that?"

"Not exactly why?" 

He looked at his brothers, "How do we know we won't end up like that?" 

Donald sighed, "You don't, no one knows what the future looks like but the important thing is none of you want to right?" They quickly shook their heads making him smile, "Then that's all the matters, as long as you want to be this close you can work anything out." And that was the end of that.

A little while later, after Donald left the boys were doing their own things but not moving from where they had been for most of the afternoon when a knock sounded. They looked at the door and then each other.

"Wonder who that could be." Dewey said sarcastically and went back to his comic book.

"Your decision." Huey said to Louie who looked down before answering, 

"Come in." Della walked in and smiled at them before looking at Louie.

"Can I talk to you alone?" 

"Whatever you wanna say to Louie you can say in front of us." Huey said before Louie could say anything, she sighed and sat in their desk chair.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier."

"Okay." 

She sighed again, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled; you weren't listening to me but that's no excuse and I am really sorry, I never meant to upset you."

"Okay." He said again looking back down at his phone, "Is that it?" 

"Yes, that's it. Are we okay?"

"No. I'm still upset."

"I understand." She got up, "I'll leave you guys alone now." She waited for any of them to say anything and sighed when they didn't before walking out. After she walked out Louie laid back in his bed, 

"I'm really tired guys."

"Which kind?" 

"I don't know, both? I just can't help but think that things'll be better after I go to sleep." 

"Maybe, you can rest if you want. We aren't going anywhere." 

"Promise?" 

They both looked at him, "Promise." And with that he fell asleep, things weren't better and nothing was really resolved but at least he had his brothers. 


	6. First Family Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The whole family goes on their first adventure together.

The next day wasn't easier, for any of them. Louie had spent most of the day in bed and while his brothers were up and about they were still off. Meanwhile Della was trying to damage control but was failing quickly, it seemed no one wanted to hear her out. When Louie did decide to get up he immediately sought out his brothers who were playing a game with Webby but stopped after they saw him.

"Are you okay?" Huey asked, always the big brother. He shrugged placing his hands in his pockets looking around. 

"Where's Webby?" 

His brothers shared a fearful look, "Oh crap." Webby suddenly jumped down from the ceiling and onto the both of them as Louie's eyes widen. They both let out groans and pushed her off as she cheered,

"I won! Oh, hi Louie!" He gave her a short wave and helped his brothers up, "Round two?" They were all quick to turn that down not wanting to deal with another Webby game so soon. 

"Why don't we go see what Uncle Scrooge is up to?" Huey suggested when he noticed how down she was. She looked at the rest of them and agreed, then they went to find Scrooge who was talking to Launchpad about something.

He turned when he noticed them, "Kids! Ay was just aboot ta come find ye, do yew have anything planned fer the rest o' the day?" They shook their heads, "Good! What do ye say ta an adventure?"

"Would all of us be going?" Huey said hesitantly feeling his brothers uncertainty as well as his own. 

"Ideally yes," He replied with a raised eyebrow, the boys looked at each other as Webby patiently rocked on her heels. 

"I don't know..." He got cut off when Della walked into the room and glanced around at everyone.

"What's going on?" 

"We're gettin' ready ta go on an adventure." 

"Wait, now? Does Uncle Donald know about this?" 

Scrooge brushed him off, "What Donald doesn't know won't hurt him."

"That's debatable." 

"We should go," Della said smiling at the kids, "It should be fun." 

"Ok does no one think we should tell Uncle Donald? Guys?" Dewey looked at his siblings who nodded in agreement making Scrooge and Della sigh, they already knew what he would say. The boys went to find Donald while Webby went to go see her Granny just in case they ended up going. The triplets found Donald in his room resting he looked at them and smiled when they came in.

"What's up?" 

They glanced around nervously before Dewey answered, "Scrooge wants to take us on a adventure and he didn't want us to tell you."

Donald ran a hand down his face, "Of course he didn't, do you guys want to go?" 

"We don't know, mom would be going."

He nodded in understanding, "Did Scrooge tell you anything about this adventure?"

Louie twiddled his fingers, "We sorta came here before he could've." 

He nodded again and hesitated, "What if I were to come as well? Would you wanna go then?" 

The boys perked up, "Really? You'll come?"

"If you want me to." 

"It wouldn't be a family adventure without you!" The other two nodded in agreement and Donald teared up before hugging them. They protested for a few seconds then hugged him back. 

"Well wait are we waiting for? Let's go!" The boys cheered and ran out of the room and Donald's grin turned to a frown as he followed them, this wouldn't end well. 

* * *

"Where are we going?" Donald demanded to know as the plane took off and the kids paused their conversation to hear Scrooge's answer. 

"Esterduck, a town famous fer it's pyramid o' gold."

"A pyramid that's made of gold? What a waste of gold!" Louie exclaimed shocked and annoyed while Huey patted his arm comfortingly. 

"Maybe so but we're goin' inside."

"...Why?" 

"Fer the treasure o' course! It's made o' gold fer a reason ye know."

"What they had so much that they could make a pyramid out of it?" Huey asked disbelievingly to which Scrooge didn't answer and looked away innocently. The kids' jaws dropped and they stared at him,

"What?!" "No way!" "Awesome!" "Can I have a pyramid of gold?" 

Louie's brothers looked at him and he raised his hands, "What it was just a question." 

"Ignorin' that," Louie rolled his eyes, "No one's ever been inside the pyramid, they're afraid o' damagin' it the cowards, and we're gonna be the first!" 

"I can think of several things wrong with that-" 

Dewey covered his mouth, "Shhhhhh." 

"Now everyone sit back, this'll take a couple o' hours." 

Dewey slumped down in his seat, "I'm already bored." While the kids got settled in Donald decided to voice his grievances to Scrooge who waved him off which made him annoyed.

Della placed a hand on him, "Donald it'll be fine we've been on hundreds of these types of adventures before." 

"This is different! We didn't have the kids with us before!" 

"I'm not worried about them, why are you?" Donald bit back a retort and sighed before shaking his head and walking away. They looked after him but didn't say anything,  instead choosing to focus on the kids who were having their own conversation. Huey and Dewey were arguing about something while Webby was trying to break them up and Louie was glancing at Donald before turning and snapping something at his brothers who both flinched but shut up. 

"Does that happen a lot?"

"More than ye'd think." Scrooge turned back to look out the window and talk to Launchpad while Della continued to watch the kids. Now they were all quietly talking about something while sending glances at the adults every now and then. Something irked her about all of this, she didn't like knowing they were talking about her behind her back like that, she didn't know them well but she knew it couldn't be anything good. 

She then looked at Donald who was muttering angrily to himself and wriggling his fingers nervously which made her sigh, he didn't use to be like this, did raising her boys really change him that much? She looked away and towards the floor, did her leaving really change him that much? 

Louie suddenly got out of his seat and made his way to his Uncle who looked up and smiled when he saw him. "Are you okay?" 

Donald sighed, "Just upset that no one's listening to me, not that that's anything new..." He muttered. 

Louie sat next to him, "Did you not want to come?" 

"I did," He assured him, "But I'm just worried is all nothing for you to concerned about." 

Louie looked down and his brothers joined them, "We'll be careful Uncle Donald." Huey said climbing into the spot next to him. 

"Yeah I won't try to set off any traps or anything!" Dewey added and Donald smiled.

"Yes you will but that's okay I know you four will look out for each other." 

"And you'll be there to help!" 

Donald rubbed his head, "You bet I will." 

* * *

When they arrived at the pyramid the first thing Huey noticed is that it didn't look like it was made of gold the second thing he noticed was that Louie was glaring at it.

"Were we lied to?" 

"Appearances can be deceiving Lou it's probably been here for centuries, it's not gonna look like it was built yesterday." 

"Whatever, long as there's a treasure room." 

"There's not just any treasure room," Scrooge cut into the conversation, "There's one o' the biggest in the world."

Louie's eyes lit up, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" He tried to rush forward but was stopped by Scrooge's cane.

"Patience lad." He rolled his eyes but waited for the others, not patiently though. "Come on we don't have all day!" 

Donald and Della came out of the plane, "And make sure that-"

Della grabbed him, "Donnie it will be fine, trust me. Besides, you'll be there. Nothing bad ever happens on your watch."

"I feel like you're not taking this seriou-" 

"Okay!" Scrooge cut him off, "Here we are at the famous pyramid o' Estherduck don't let its appearance fool yew, it's one o' the most dangerous pyramids in the world."

"And you're just mentioning this now!"

He brushed Donald off, "Ay wouldn't have brought ye here if ay didn't think yew couldn't handle it. Now watch yer step goin' in it's a steep drop." Dewey and Louie pushed their brother in front of them and he glared at them before looking down.

"That is a steep drop..."

"Come on guys adventure awaits!" Webby ran in as Donald let out a worried quack and went after her, they were followed by Scrooge and Della who didn't notice the triplets were still at the opening. 

"Is it a bad sign they didn't notice us?" Huey said not looking away from the drop.

"Probably." 

Dewey lightly nudged him, "Come on oldest first." 

"Why can't it be second oldest first?" 

"Because that doesn't make any sense." Louie sighed as his brothers started to argue and looked down again, it was a pretty steep drop. He shook his head and went in staying in the middle of the stairs. His brothers noticed his absence and quickly went after him not noticing the door to the entrance and their only way out slowly closing behind them. When they caught up with Louie the three of them started having a small conversation as they caught up to the others. They all got to the end of the stairs and Scrooge got a torch from off the wall then shone it forward revealing a narrow walkway. 

"We'll have ta take this ane at a time, ay'll go first Donald yew bring up the rear." Donald rolled his eyes and the kids snickered at the word rear. The walk down the walkway was difficult as the kids kept pushing each other to try to get ahead and kept bumping into the adults as a result. 

"Ow Huey!" 

Huey looked at him strangely, "I didn't elbow you that hard." 

"No right I know that you just, pushed me into the wall..." Huey continued to look at him but was pushed by Louie and quickly turned to fend him off. Dewey sighed, that was close. When they got to the end of the walkway the adults let out a sigh of relief and everyone looked around the room they were currently in. It was big and empty which clued them into the fact that something was wrong. Nobody moved but Dewey found a rock and threw it intending to set off any traps but nothing happened so he shrugged and walked forward but was stopped by Donald. 

"Something's still not right." 

"Oh I'm sure it's fine." Della walked in and was almost pinned to the wall by arrows but was pulled back just in time. 

"Della lass what were ye thinkin' yew should know better by now!" 

"Sorry Uncle Scrooge." 

"How do we set off any remaining traps?" Huey said looking around trying to notice anything. 

"The arrows came from there," Louie said pointing to the wall opposite them where there were certain spots that had holes. "Maybe we can use that to figure out where the rest are?" 

"Maybe." Scrooge agreed, "But fer now just watch the floor, see if there's any more pressure plates or anythin' o' the sort." They looked but didn't see any which made Scrooge sigh.

"Looks like we have ta find another way across." Dewey and Webby lit up and started looking around.

"The ceiling!" Webby pointed up to the ceiling where they were vines hanging down. They grinned and rushed forward jumping and grabbing onto the vines.

"Be careful!" Donald shouted rushing forward but halting when he noticed the stone in front of him was the one Della hit in her rush. 

Meanwhile Huey and Louie were conversing, "If we avoid every indented one we should be fine." 

"I can barely see the wall in front of us!" 

Huey thought for a second then had an aha moment and grabbed the torch from Scrooge. "And now you can." 

Louie shrugged, "Fair enough." And they made their way across, Scrooge looked at the twins and grinned. 

"Just like old times eh kiddos?" Della grinned back but Donald was carefully watching the kids who were having no problems getting across. 

"Let's do this!" Della cheered and grabbed on to Donald who looked at her terrified before rushing forward.

"Della wait-" But it was no use and they were already crossing. When they got to the other side she landed perfectly making the kids cheer but he landed on his face with many things sticking out of him. 

"This is why I told you to wait!" He plucked a spider off of himself as Huey helped him up.

"Your turn Uncle Scrooge!" Dewey said with a smirk.

"Yeah don't wanna keep us waiting do you?" Louie added with his own smirk.

He smirked at the two of them before jumping forward and grabbing one of the vines swinging himself across the whole room much to their amazement. He landed in front of them and took the torch from Huey, 

"And that's how ye do that." 

* * *

The next room was like the bridge room in the temple they found Della in much to their uneasinesses. 

Louie groaned, "Not again!" 

"Good news is this ane looks mare stable than the other ane so it can probably handle mare than two people, but still be careful." 

"I'm hop full of adrenaline from the last room, let's do this!" Dewey said jumping in place.

"Yes!" Webby agreed making Scrooge and Della chuckle. 

"Okay but remember ta be careful." They both started crossing with Scrooge and Della right behind them while the other two tried convincing Louie to cross. 

"No way, I still have nightmares from last time!"

"Louie it'll be okay I promise."

"You promise?" He asked skeptically and Donald nodded, 

"Yes, I've got you." Louie looked at both of them and sighed before looking at the bridge nervously. 

"The sooner you get across the sooner you'll get to the treasure room." Huey tempted which made Louie straighten up. 

"Okay I've got this." He stepped onto the bridge and slowly made his way across while Donald and Huey followed closely behind. When they got to the other side Louie let out a sigh in relief and almost collapsed on the ground. They then made their way to the next room which turned out to be the treasure room. Louie let out a cheer and tried to rush in but was stopped by Huey who he glared at.

"Dude come on treasure room." He gestured to the room but Huey shook his head. 

"Think, if the other rooms were that bad how bad is the room they were protecting? Also, no one's ever been here we don't know if any of that's stuffs cursed." Louie made a face but didn't say anything else while the adults conversed.

"Ay don't think any o' it's cursed."

"You don't think?!" 

Scrooge sighed and glanced into the room, how was he supposed to know? They were the first here it's not like there was a guidebook on this place. He walked in and looked for traps or anything suspicious but found nothing, he was still on edge but allowed the others to come in with strict instructions to be careful. They all went into different parts of the room, Della went searching for anything really valuable while Donald went after the kids to make sure they didn't get into any trouble. Louie started pocking treasure in his pockets as the other three looked at the writing on the wall. 

"It doesn't make any sense. Do you understand it Web?" 

She shook her head, "I can't make any sense of it it all looks like nonsense." 

They looked at Donald, "What about you Uncle Donald, anything?" He looked at the wall but it didn't make any sense to him either. He exhaled and shook his head, what kind of a place had wall-writing that was impossible to understand? A place Scrooge picked no doubt. 

"Let's hope it's not important." Suddenly the room began to shake as debris started falling they looked at Donald who let out a nervous chuckle. 

"Oh phooey." 

"Okay time ta go." Scrooge ushered the kids out and Donald quickly followed after but stopped when he noticed Della wasn't following.

"Della what are you doing? We have to go!" She looked at him and nodded, 

"Right sorry let's go." They both ran out of the room and it collapsed behind them. They stared at the rubble for a few seconds before the boys broke out of it and tackled their uncle in a hug. He hugged them back as the others watched, some unhappily. Webby hugged Scrooge and showed him some stuff she managed to grab as he smiled at her. 

"What caused that?" Huey asked as his hug broke up.

"Best not ta worry aboot that right now, let's just focus on gettin' out o' here before any o' us get hurt." The others nodded and they started to walk.

"Does that mean we have to cross that bridge again?" Louie asked but as they entered that room the temple started to shake again and the bridge collapsed.

"Well," Louie blinked, "That answers that." 

"What are we gonna do?!" 

"Breathe Huey we'll figure something out."

"But that bridge was our only way across!" 

"There is another way." Dewey said looking down as Donald started to protest. 

"We have no other choice lad it's the only way." Scrooge tied a rope to one of the bridge pillars and started to scale down the wall he pulled the rope when he got to the bottom to let them know to send the kids down. After being reassured it would be fine they started to go down Huey followed by Dewey and Webby and lastly Louie who hugged his brothers after he landed. Then after the twins went down they went onwards and found a different way to the exit but saw that it was sealed off when they got there. 

"Seriously?!" They tried to pry it open but had no luck much to their disappointments. 

"Okay looks like we're lookin' fer another way and quick these place'll collapse at any moment." 

The kids started to freak out and Donald sighed, "Thank you for that." He grit out and started looking around when he saw an opening and got their attention. They all went over to it and rushed out letting out a breath of relief when they saw the outside world again. The temple completely collapsed behind them and they ran to get to the plane.

"Go go go!" They shouted at Launchpad as they got in. He took off and the temple was in pieces below them. They climbed into the seats and tried to catch their breaths as Louie put his hood up and curled into a ball, his brothers got on either side of him but didn't say anything. 

"That could've gone worse." Della said and they all glared at her making her sink in her chair.

"Never again." Louie muttered and the other kids echoed his sentiment as Donald glared at Scrooge convinced this whole thing was somehow his fault. Which to be fair wasn't completely wrong, and at that moment they all wanted nothing more than to get home and put this whole thing behind them though they were curious, 

What caused the temple to collapse in the first place?


	7. Adventure Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath of the adventure.  
> 

The rest of the plane ride was spent mostly in silence as no one had the energy to speak except Launchpad who stopped trying to make conversation after a few failed attempts. During the flight the kids had managed to fall asleep and they were all currently curled up against each other. Meanwhile, the adults were actively avoiding talking to each other knowing it would only end up in a fight. When they got to the manor Donald went to wake the kids up, Louie lifted his arms and Donald, who had always known his boys like the back of his hand, picked him up. He clung to him as Donald helped the others up, 

"Come on the sooner you get out the sooner you can go back to bed." They got up and stumbled out of the plane as the remaining adults unpacked the plane. Mrs. Beakley came and got Webby when they entered the manor and Donald led his boys upstairs while holding on to a very clingy Louie. Not that he was surprised, Louie was known to be clingy when he was tired. Della followed after them and tried to make light conversation but Donald just sighed,

"Della please, it's been a long day." She nodded and they continued on their way. When they got to the boys' bedroom Huey and Dewey immediately got in their beds while Donald tried to put Louie in his but he kept clinging to him. 

"He's had a rough day." Huey said tiredly as he shooed Della away from him.

Dewey groaned, "We've all had a rough day!" Donald sighed and finally got Louie to let go of him who sleepily looked confused before falling into his bed. Donald kissed all of them goodnight as Della looked on in jealousy, she was getting real tired of this being shoved in her face.  After they left Louie sleepily got out of his bed and made his way up to Huey who he curled up next to before falling asleep. A few minutes later Dewey got up and joined them and they stayed peacefully asleep, for a few hours at least. 

Huey suddenly jolted up and sighed before checking to see if he woke his brothers up and being relieved when he didn't. He carefully got out of his bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. But when he got there he noticed he wasn't the only one with that idea, 

"Uncle Donald?"

Donald jumped and turned around in surprise, "Huey! You scared me!" 

He looked down, "Sorry." 

Donald's face soften, "It's alright kiddo, what are you doing up? Thought you boys would sleep like a rock the whole night." 

"Guess not, I had a bad dream so I thought I'd come get a drink." 

Donald hummed, "Wanna talk about it?" He asked as he grabbed a cocoa packet from the cabinet. 

Huey sat at the kitchen table, "It was the usual what if's after we have challenging adventures. I'm just glad it's me having them this time." 

Donald finished making the cocoa and handed it to him, he took it with a smile, "Well you know it isn't good to focus on what if's. The important thing is that we're all okay and yeah that may not be true next time but it's not something you should dwell on, just be as ready as you can." 

"Junior Woodchuck rule #1: Always be prepared." 

"Exactly. Feel better kiddo?" 

"Yeah, actually thanks." He finished the cocoa and put his cup in the sink then hugged Donald.

"Alright time to go back to bed." After he sent Huey up to his room Donald sighed and back to the window. He knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, he had too much on his mind with Della back it sure felt like old times, but was that a good thing? 

The next morning was business as usual with the events of yesterday forgotten by almost everyone and it seemed like everything was back to normal. Scrooge and Donald were at work while Della was where she always was when she wasn't trying to hang out with her boys, her room. Most of the kids were currently playing another one of Webby's games, Huey was the odd one out this time as he wasn't really in the mood. 

Dewey was running through the foyer when he noticed a figure in the den and tackled it, "Huey! Come play with us!" 

"No thanks."

"Don't make me get the big guns."

Huey put down his book, "Fine." He walked with him back to the foyer as Louie ran in and hid behind them, 

"Ah help! She's crazy!" Webby came around the corner with a dart gun in her hand and Huey and Dewey glared at her. 

"Too far?" They both nodded she gave them an apologetic look and raised her hands in surrender then got pelted with a bunch of darts.

"Sucker!" Louie cheered and ran off again Webby froze in shock for a few seconds before peeling off after him. The other two looked at each other and shrugged before also taking off. They continued to play until about lunchtime when Huey called for a break so they could eat, everyone agreed and they went to the kitchen to try and find something.

"Maybe Granny could make us something?" Webby suggested searching through the cabinets as Dewey poked a sleepy Huey.

"I think he's dead." He said to Louie who didn't look up from his phone and shrugged. 

"Thanks guys." Huey muttered picking his head up off the counter. Louie spared him a look, 

"Why are you so tired? The rest of us aren't." 

"Well I was already pretty tired before, then I started playing with you guys and now any adrenaline I had has worn off." 

Louie nodded, "Sure but why were you tired in the first place?" He glared at Dewey who was trying to get to the cabinet in front of him and lightly pushed him he glared back and tried to get around him as Huey rolled his eyes. 

"I just had some trouble getting to sleep last night is all."

"So you didn't leave in the middle of the night then?" Dewey pushed Louie away after he hit his side and looked at Huey who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that the same side I hit yesterday?" 

"You're avoiding my question."

"So are you." Louie looked back and forth between the two of them as they argued then rolled his eyes before joining Webby near the fridge. She looked at him questioningly but he shook his head, 

"Anything in there Webs?" 

"Nope!" 

"Of course." He sighed and looked back at his brothers hoping they had stopped arguing but was unfortunately proven wrong, it seemed to be getting worse actually. So before it could become something serious he went over there and broke them up. 

"Huey you're too tired, Dewey you hurt yourself doing something stupid, again. Now can we please have lunch!" They were about to say something when Della walked in, she smiled at them but they just glanced at each other and stayed quiet.

Della sighed, "Are you guys hungry? I could make you something?" 

"Please!" Webby said before the boys could say anything Della nodded and started getting stuff out to make them lunch. The kids went to sit at the table as she started making them sandwiches, 

"Why aren't you at work?" Dewey said curiously after a few minutes making her jump in surprise,

"I don't have a job." 

"Why can't Uncle Scrooge give you one?" 

"I haven't asked him, it's been a long couple of weeks." She handed them the sandwiches and they all looked inside them before trading.

"You'll get it next time." Dewey reassured after seeing her upset face. They started eating and it was quiet for a few seconds until, 

"So Dewey are you going to tell us what's up with your side?" 

"Will you just drop it?!" Dewey threw down his sandwich and tried to get out of the booth but Louie shook his head and refused to move. 

"Fine I'll tell you if," He paused making the others look at him, "Huey tells us why he's so tired."

"Deal." 

* * *

He sighed, "If you must know... last night I had a bad dream and it was hard to get back to sleep." 

His brothers looked at each other, "Why didn't you wake us up?"

"You guys were so tired, I didn't want to make it worse, besides Uncle Donald helped me. Your turn Dewey." 

They all turned to Dewey who groaned, "I hurt my side when we were playing yesterday."

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Huey said trying to lift up his shirt and he fought him off.

"Because! It was when..." He trailed off and shot a quick look at Webby and Huey's eyes widen in realization.

"Oh." He backed up slightly, "You need to put some cream on that and maybe take an ibuprofen."

"Already done bro." Huey nodded and went back to eating as Dewey poked at his sandwich and made a face, he wasn't hungry anymore. 

"Next time that happens you need to tell someone." Della said sternly and they all looked at her before Dewey nodded. 

"She's right Dewey you can't just keep stuff like this to yourself." 

"Okay Huey, I get it." He lightly nudged Louie who sighed and got up, he got out of the booth and left. Louie got back in and started eating again as Huey sighed and picked up his and Dewey's plates then put them in the sink. He sat back down and waited for the other two to finish, this seemed like a day where Louie was eating a lot and he wasn't complaining about that. 

After they finished they got up and after putting their dishes in the sink Louie and Webby left, the former shooting a look at Huey as he did so. He sighed and looked at Della who was washing the dishes,

He raised an eyebrow, "We have a dishwasher for that you know." 

"This is easier." 

"I mean it's not but okay." He got up and went to stand near her, "I don't like you, you were mean to Louie and you don't know us at all and you, left. You made your brother take care of us while he was still grieving you and that's not fair. And most important of all you tore this family apart, twice and no one else is saying these things so I guess I have to. I really don't like you." 

"I'm sorry, for everything I did it was never my intention to hurt anyone."

"What did you think would happen?" 

"Not this..." Huey sighed and shook his head before leaving, he had a destination in mind as he walked up the stairs. When he got there he opened the door and searched the room for his immediate little brother and found him on his bed reading a comic. He climbed the ladder and to Dewey's bed who knew he was there but didn't say anything.

"Dewey." 

Dewey didn't look up. 

"Seriously? Fine whatever next time I'll just leave it alone!" 

"Great." Huey started climbing down, 

"Huey." He paused and looked at Dewey making him sigh, "You think I can't take care of myself."

Huey blinked, "When did I say that?" 

"You didn't you imply it."

"By being worried about you?" He asked confused which made Dewey angry. 

"No by telling me what to do, it was just a bruise!"

"That if not treated right could turn serious, especially on your side. You could've had a broken rib for all we knew!" 

"I don't. I think I'd be able to tell." 

Huey sighed, "Of course you could but that's not the point! You just can't keep going through life acting like you never need help, that's not good and sure it was just a bruise today but what if it's a concussion tomorrow? Please, you have to tell us when something's wrong. You don't wanna tell me? Fine! Tell Louie or Webby or one of our uncles, just tell someone." 

Dewey stared at him, "I will," He gulped, "I'm sorry really, I should've said something and I know Uncle Donald's gonna flip when he finds out." 

"Maybe we don't have to tell him," He looked at him hopefully, "Just this once! And this can't be a recurring thing, you have to start looking out for yourself." He said sternly as Dewey nodded, he smiled and climbed into his bed then hugged him, "I know you can take care of yourself but that doesn't stop me from worrying." 

He hugged him back, "I know I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too." And that's how Louie found them a few minutes later when he came looking for one or both of them. 

* * *

A few hours later the kids were watching TV in the den when the front door opened and arguing was heard. They looked at each other and rolled their eyes before going to check it out. When they got to the foyer they saw their uncles and sighed, Donald paused when he noticed them making Scrooge look at him strangely before also noticing them,

"Kids!" Scrooge chuckled nervously and rubbed his neck, "What are ye doin'?" 

They shared a glance before Dewey answered, "Nothing, what are you doing?" 

"That's not important, so how was yer day?" 

"Eh." Louie shrugged and Donald turned to Huey, 

"Did you have any trouble getting back to sleep last night?"

"A little, but I'm fine now." His brothers shared a look but didn't say anything, they'd make sure he got some sleep later. 

"Any of you know where Della is?" They shook their heads making Donald sigh and give a look to Scrooge who in turn glared at him.

"Umm..." Webby started before deciding she probably didn't want to know and walked back to the den. The others looked after her before the boys turned to their uncles. 

"What's going on?" 

Donald smiled at them, "Nothing for you to worry about, why don't we go hang out in the den and you can tell me about your day." The boys knew what he was doing but nodded and made a silent promise to figure it out later. They walked into the den and Scrooge looked at the stairs before following them. 

They stayed in the den until Mrs. Beakley told them dinner was ready and as they walked to the dining room she told them for one of them to go get Della. Donald said he would and went upstairs, he knocked when he got to her door and opened it before she could say anything. She quickly hid something before he could notice it and asked him what he wanted.

"Dinner's ready, have you been up here all day?" 

"I went and had lunch with the kids earlier." He nodded and left the room, she sighed in relief and followed him. When they got to the dining room Della took Donald's usual seat across from the kids which made everyone pause for a second before Donald took another seat and dinner continued as if nothing had happened. After dinner was done Scrooge suggested a movie night to which everyone agreed. He sent the others to pick out a movie while he got the popcorn ready but was promptly pushed out of the kitchen by Mrs. Beakley who insisted she do it. 

He grumbled as he made his way to the den and angrily took a spot on the couch watching the kids argue over which movie to watch. They all had pulled out different movies they had in mind the minute Scrooge brought up movie night and were adamant about watching their choice, even Louie who was usually laid back about this stuff. 

"Why not something we all want to watch?" Donald suggested after a few minutes when it became clear the fighting was solving nothing. They agreed and picked out a movie that had recently been bought and that they all were wanting to see but never had the chance, always being too busy to go the movie theater while it was out. They got settled in on the floor as Mrs. Beakley brought in several bowls of popcorn and handed them out accordingly. 

For the most part everyone was quiet during the movie as they ended up getting really invested in it and when it ended they all sat in silence as the credits rolled before Scrooge got off the couch and turned the lights back on. 

"Well that was a fun movie, how did ye like it?" He addressed the whole room as they got up and stretched out their muscles, sore from sitting still for a few hours. 

"Louie's crying."

He glared at Dewey, "I am not!" They started fighting and Huey tried to break them apart as Webby got the DVD out of the DVD player and put it back with the others. Donald looked at the clock and widen his eyes, 

"Okay time for bed." The kids groaned but Donald was insistent and after a few minutes they were sent up as the adults cleaned up the living room.

After the boys said goodnight to Webby they headed to their own room and got ready for bed even if they had no intentions of going just yet. As they got ready Donald came in and told them goodnight and to make sure they got plenty of rest. They agreed and he was about to leave when Huey stopped him,

"Why won't you tell us what was going on earlier?" The other two looked at Donald and he sighed, 

"Because like I said it's nothing for you to worry about, let me and Uncle Scrooge handle it." The boys nodded but they all knew they weren't let this go so he gave them one last warning and left.

Afterwards Huey turned to his brothers, "Guys we should really go to bed."

"Sleep is for the weak."

"We stay tired like men!" Dewey pumped his fist up and Huey rolled his eyes, 

"You're both gonna die by the time you're twenty." 

Dewey nudged him, "Pfft you'd never let that happen." 

Huey started climbing the ladder, "I'm tired, I'm going to bed do whatever you want." He got in his bed and turned away from them. They looked at each other and shrugged then got into Louie's bed and started whispering about what to do with whatever was going on. After a while they both got tired and agreed to call it a night as Dewey climbed up to his bed he looked down at Louie who appeared to be lost in thought.

"Louie, we're gonna figure this out." 

"I know, night."

"Night." He got into his bed and settled in eventually drifting off to sleep as Louie stared at his bunk. 

He didn't get a wink of sleep that night. 


	8. Forgiveness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone talks it out and the kids start planning.  
> 

The next morning Louie was still staring at Dewey's bunk when Huey's alarm went off, he moaned quietly and covered his face then quickly acted like he was asleep when he felt movement above him. Too bad his brothers were always great at reading him,

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" Dewey questioned when he saw him, he glared groggily and faced away from him, well there was his answer.

"Man, what is it with us and not sleeping lately?" 

"I dunno. I was too worried to sleep."  Louie tried to sit up but fell back against the bed, his brothers sighed and covered him with his blanket. 

"We'll handle it. You sleep." He barely let out a murmur of agreement before dropping off; the other two soundlessly started getting ready for the day then left to go get breakfast. They ran into Webby on the way down and the three of them made their way to the dining room.

"We're gonna investigate why the Uncles were acting so weird yesterday after we eat; you want in?" Dewey asked her as he hopped down the stairs she eagerly nodded but then faltered, 

"Wait what about Louie?" 

"He'll join us after he gets some sleep." She nodded again then ran into the kitchen.

"Morning everybody!" The people in there, Donald and Della, said morning back and greeted the other two when they walked in a few seconds later. But Donald furrowed with confusion when he noticed there were only two.

"Where's Louie?" 

"Sleeping." A few minutes later Mrs. Beakley walked in with the food and as they dug in went to go wake Scrooge. He groggily came in and sat down without saying anything to any of them Dewey was about to say something to him but then thought better of it. As they eat they had light conversation and the kids subtly tried to get information out of their Uncles but to no avail. So as breakfast ended they resolved to dig deeper and were about to sneak their way into Scrooge's office when Della called for Huey. He looked at the two of them who shrugged and went to see what she wanted. 

"We've lost another." Dewey said gravely to Webby who nodded solemnly they then both burst into giggles and ran off. 

Huey entered the den behind Della and sighed wondering what she wanted now. She looked at him and falsely smiled as she gestured for him to take a seat which he did confusingly and watched her waiting to see what she would do. 

"You have the same confused face as Donald," She said with a real smile and sighed, "I know I'm not on the best terms with you, any of you, and I wanna change that. I know what happened in the past upset you and I am so sorry for that, whatever you need me to do to fix that I will, just say the word." 

Huey looked down, "I don't wanna be mad forever, I wanna get to know you! I just, can't forgive you for what you did." 

"I'm not asking you to, I'm asking for a chance to mend things, to make everything right." 

He hesitated, "I guess I can give you that," She grinned, "But I can't, won't do anything until you fully apologize to Louie, and Uncle Donald, everyone actually."  

"Of course, that is more than reasonable. I'll go now!" She started to get up but he stopped her.

"Don't wake Louie up, he needs his sleep." 

"I'll, go find the others!" She got off the couch and left as he fought the urge to smile. A few seconds later two figures came running in and tackled him into the couch. 

"Sooo how did it go?" 

He shoved both of them off of him, "Pretty good actually I really feel like we're getting somewhere. You guys find anything?" 

"We didn't even look!" Webby said cheerfully plopping on the couch and Huey looked at them dumbfounded.

"Why?" 

"Our break into places guy is asleep."  

"You have a good point, TV then?" 

Della made her way up the stairs and to Donald's room and knocked then waited patiently for an answer. She hoped he was in here and not anywhere else, mainly her room she had hidden that artifact pretty well but she didn't wanna chance it, if they knew that that's what caused the cave in... 

She was startled out of her thoughts when the door opened and Donald looked at her, "Did one of the kids break something?" 

"No! Nothing like that! I was taking to Huey earlier and he made me realize, I haven't really apologized to you guys for everything I've caused, not fully." 

"I'm listening." 

"As am ae lass." A voice said from behind her making them both jump and turn to it. Scrooge raised an eyebrow and gestured for her to continue.

"Right. From what I've been told I tore this family apart, twice almost. I took on that dangerous artifact even though I knew I had kids coming, then I left you to raise them on your own while you were still mourning me! I just made a big mess of everything because I thought I could handle something I clearly couldn't, I didn't listen to anyone but myself. I know I can never make up for all that no matter how hard I try and I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness but I'm doing it anyway." 

"Lass," Scrooge sighed, "We know ye didnae mean fer any o' this ta happen but it did and no matter how much we wish it we cannae change the past. We know yer tryin' now and that's what matters, right now is what matters. I forgive yew." 

She turned to Donald hopefully, "I've been mad for so long, I don't want to be mad anymore but I can't forgive it. Huey's right, you did tear this family apart you have no idea what we all went through because of you! But I don't want to be mad anymore, I'm willing to give you another chance." She grinned and hugged him; he smiled and hugged her back then threw a smirk at Scrooge and pulled him in as well. 

"Curse me kilts are yew kids trouble." He said with a fond smile hugging them back. 

* * *

Louie got up about lunchtime with a rested smile and went down to the kitchen peaking into the den as he passed it when he noticed his siblings in there. 

"He's awake!" Dewey said teasingly when he saw him the other two looked as well and gave him a wave, he waved back and leaned on the doorway.

"Great now we can get on with the plan, we invited Webby by the way." 

Louie nodded, "Cool, just let me eat." 

Webby looked at the others, "I could eat." They shrugged and the four of them went to the kitchen. 

"Della wants to talk to you by the way." Huey informed Louie as they got there, he looked at him confused, 

"Why?" 

"To make amends, she's been doing it with everyone." He hummed in acknowledgment and went to rummage through the cabinet as Huey stared at his back. 

"Are you going to talk to her?" 

"Maybe." Huey nodded, Louie was known to hold a grudge when it wasn't family and he knew he didn't consider her family yet. He figured he should leave him alone for a while and went to see what the other two found and wasn't surprised to find them taking everything out of the fridge. He quickly stopped them and started putting stuff back,

"Why are you two like this?" They both shrugged as he pulled something out.

"Nuggets, we're having nuggets." He put them in the microwave and leaned on the counter as he waited for them to cook. A few seconds later Louie walked out, they all stared after him then his brothers shared a look and sighed but left it alone for now. After the microwave went off Huey carefully took the bag out and served them up, they thanked him and starting eating. 

Dewey bit into one and dropped it, "Ow hot!" The other two laughed and gingerly ate theirs as he tried to nurse his burnt tongue with some pep. 

When lunch was done and cleaned up they went to find Louie so they could start their plan and found him in the living room surprisingly not alone. 

"I've made amends with everyone else can you please at least hear me out?" 

He shrugged, "I could but I don't want to." Della then noticed the others and walked towards them.

"Talk to your brother." She whispered as she passed them. They walked to the couch and sat on either side of him, he jumped when he felt the couch move and stared at them in surprise. 

"What was that about?" 

"Don't know, don't care. Chip?" He held out a bag to all of them but they all declined.

"So I guess you're not in the mood to break into Scrooge's office?" Dewey presumed and Louie looked at him appalled. 

"It's like you don't even know me, I am always in the mood for that Dewford." They all got up and walked to their destination; when they got there Dewey searched for either of their uncles or Beakley while Louie tried to pick the lock. He got the door open a few seconds later with a smirk and gestured for them to go in. After they did they started looking for any sorts of clues and as they looked they talked,

"Ok so what do we know so far?" Huey questioned looking through a cabinet, 

"That our uncles were acting weird yesterday, told us not to worry about it, and said they would handle it." 

"We know that it's probably- definitely about mom." Louie added on going through Scrooge's desk, he found an unseemly picture and quickly threw it back disgusted. He swiftly shut the drawer as he shook his head, 

"Do not open that drawer." 

"Webby is the cost still clear?" Dewey asked her ignoring Louie she gave an affirmative and looked back at them,

"What is it with you finding gross stuff?"  

Louie shook his head again, "I honestly don't know Webs, that was worse than the liver though." 

"Can we focus please?!" The three of them looked at Huey who rolled his eyes and went back to the cabinet. They looked at each other and shrugged then went back to searching. A little while later they had finished inspecting the office and came up with nothing. 

"Of course there's nothing here, Scrooge is too smart." 

"What do we do now?" 

"We get outta here before we're caught." Louie said heading to the door, the others agreed and they quickly got out of the office. They went to Webby's room trying to think of what to do next as they went. 

* * *

A few hours later Dewey was roaming around the manor bored, he thought he might be in the middle of something but forgot so he just roamed around, well until he reached his mom's room. He looked at the closed door for a few seconds before shrugging and knocking, he was a little disappointed when he didn't get an answer but went in anyway.

Della looked up from a paper on her desk when she heard the door open and smiled when she saw it was Dewey, "What's up...?" She trailed off and he looked at her in disbelief, 

"Dewey."

"Dewey! What's up Dewey?" 

He shrugged, "Nothing much just wanted to see if you wanted to hang out?" 

"I would love to," She paused, "Later. I'm kind of busy right now." She said apologetically and he shrugged again.

"Oh okay." He started to leave but saw something shiny sticking out of one of her desk drawers and looked at it curiously.

'What the?' He began to walk towards it but thought better of it knowing she would try to hide it if she saw him. So he decided to leave instead but not happily. 

'Uncle Donald would never be too busy for us.' He thought bitterly as he left pushing what he saw out of his mind. For now. 

Once he stepped out of the room he got pelted with a dart which made him remember what he was doing before he went there and ran off before he could get hit again. As he ran he forgot that he was playing with Webby and that playing with Webby meant there were traps. 

"Ow." He said from under some pillows, he heard footsteps round the corner and sighed waving a hand out and waiting to be pulled up. He was and looked to see who it was and saw it was Huey, well it could've been someone worse he's positive he'd never live this down if it was Louie. 

"Thanks Hue." Huey nodded and peaked around him,

"I think we're safe, last I saw Webby was in the east hall and I think Louie might've given up? Don't quote me on that." 

"Yeah, I might've forgotten we were playing for a while." Dewey replied scratching his neck as Huey shook his head incredulously. They continued on keeping their eyes peeled for any more traps but as they walked Dewey started thinking about what he saw again. He didn't know what it was but it looked too important to be in a desk drawer, why was it in there in the first place? It was like she was trying to hide it... 

Dewey widen his eyes in realization and grabbed his brother, "We need to have a meeting, now!" 

The four of them gathered in Webby's room, their game on pause as the majority of them looked at Dewey who was standing in the center of the room trying to find the words to explain what he saw. 

"I don't know, I didn't see much of it and I had to get out of there before she noticed me looking. But it looked shiny and was clearly hidden..." 

"Shiny and hidden, could it have been from Esterduck?" Webby indirectly correctly guessed and the boys considered it.

"Maybe but why would she feel the need to hide it?" Huey asked looking towards the door confused and upset. 

"And who from?" Louie continued as Dewey started writing everything down on Webby's board. When he was done he looked back towards them for their approval which they readily gave.

"So we have two mysteries now?" Huey summarizes examing the board carefully.

"Why do I feel like they might have something to do with each other?" 

"Because they probably do." Louie answered her also looking over the board after a few seconds he put things together and turned to his siblings, 

"What if whatever that thing is caused the cave in and that's why she's hiding it?" 

"Then it has to be really important." 

"So she's hiding things again?" Dewey said throwing his hands up in annoyance.

"Looks like it." Huey confirmed forloningly; it was silent for a few minutes as everyone digested that information. Louie looked between his brothers and sighed as he got up,

"You know what? No! We shouldn't be sitting here feeling bad about this, we should be trying to figure out what that thing is and why she feels like she has to hide it!" 

His brothers looked at him, "Louie..." 

"No I'm not letting her tear this family apart again! Not when I can do something about it!" The others got up as well and surrounded him comfortingly. 

"Let's do this!" 

They spent the rest of the time until dinner in Webby's room trying to come up with a plan which they did. They were putting in the final details when Mrs. Beakley called them for dinner; they went and resolved to finish it later. 

Dinner was a quiet affair as no one really had anything to say, tensions were clearly high again but hopefully, if the kids had anything to say about it, not for long. After dinner everyone went their separate ways again. Donald spent a few minutes with the kids since he hadn't seen them all day, too which they were not complaining, then went off to talk to Scrooge about something. The kids started making their way upstairs when Della called for Louie, 

"Whoa," Huey remarked, "Deja-vu." Louie made a face and turned to face her, 

"Yeah I'm kinda busy right now, you know like you were earlier when Dewey wanted to hang out with you."

She cringed as the others tried not to laugh, "That's fair. Maybe later?" She suggested hopefully. 

"Maybe." He said as he went upstairs his siblings following after him not giving her an ounce of sympathy. She sighed and made her way to her room, it seemed like everyone was busy lately, she didn't like it. She had been gone for ten years, she wanted to hang out with everyone as much as she could. She thought she had been getting somewhere lately but it seemed like she was back at square one. 

A few hours later Donald came and got the boys out of Webby's room so that they all could start getting ready for bed. They said goodnight to her and went to their own room as Mrs. Beakley walked in so she could say goodnight to Webby. As they started turning in for the night Donald watched them and sighed, 

"You boys know I love you more than anything right?" 

They looked at him, "Of course we do, why?" 

"Just making sure. Goodnight." They said night back confused and he left, they shared a look before settling in their beds and falling asleep. They'd hoped this would a night they would sleep peacefully through. 

They hoped wrong. 


	9. Closer Isn't Always Better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys get closer to Della and she has a pretty big fight with someone.

It's the middle of the night when Dewey woke up he sighed and tried to get back to sleep but determined he was fully awake when he failed after a few minutes. So with a quiet moan he got out of his bed and started to make his way out of the room. He almost got out when Louie jolted up and started looking around the room before settling his eyes on Dewey. 

"Dewey?" He asked quietly; Dewey jumped and looked at him curiously.

"What woke you up?" 

Louie broke eye contact, "I don't wanna talk about it. What are you doing?" 

"I was gonna go to the kitchen, maybe get a snack." Louie nodded and also got out of bed. They barely made it out the door when Huey woke up, he looked down and the two of them then hopped out of his bed. The three of them made their way downstairs running into Webby on the way. 

"So we all woke up at the same time? Does anyone else find that a little weird?" Dewey said after they found her they agreed and went silent as they got to the kitchen. When they did get there Dewey started rummaging through the pantry looking for a snack as the others started quietly talking. A few moments later Louie also started going through the pantry, 

"What got you up Webs?" Huey asked as he watched his brothers, 

"Just thinking." 

"About?" He prompted, she shrugged so he dropped it and went to break up his brothers who were fighting over a bag of marshmallows. Then put some into bowls and gave them to them, as they ate they talked. 

"So what do we do when we find out why mom's hiding that thing?" Dewey asked in between marshmallows. 

"Tell our Uncles I guess, we can't confront her about it."

"Why not?" Louie questioned placing his empty bowl in the sink, Dewey put his in there as well a few seconds later and both looked at Huey for an answer. 

"Because what if it goes bad? She could get defensive and she probably won't tell us anything anyway." Suddenly there was some noise upstairs and the boys tensed,

"Boys?" Donald said as he walked into the kitchen.

"And Webby." 

"What are you kids doing up at," He glanced at the microwave, "1 in the morning?" 

"We couldn't sleep."

He noticed the bowls in the sink, "And you thought eating was a good idea?"

Louie raised his hands and pointed at Dewey, "Don't blame me he got the food."

"You didn't have to get hungry after that."

"It's like you don't even know me." Donald sighed and got four cups out of the cabinet then got milk out of the fridge. He poured it into the cups and put them in the microwave.

"Uncle Donald always makes us warm milk when we can't sleep." Dewey explained to Webby who looked confused.

"We didn't mean to wake you we thought you wouldn't hear since the mansion is so big." Huey said guiltily but Donald brushed him off, 

"I've always known when you boys were up when you're not supposed to be." He handed them the cups and waited for them to finish. When they did he sent them off to bed and started cleaning their dishes, he knew he probably wouldn't be going back to sleep tonight. After they left Scrooge came in and raised an eyebrow at him, 

"What are ye doin' up?" 

"Felt the boys were up, you?" 

"Heard the noise, any idea why they're all up?" 

"Not sure about Webby but a great bad thing is that the boys have always had a similar sleep cycle, great cause when one gets tired they all get tired bad cause,"

"When one cannae sleep the others cannae sleep either." Scrooge finished and Donald nodded, they went silent after that but after a few moments Scrooge attempted a conversation but Donald shook his head. 

"Not tonight, we'll deal with it in the morning. You should go back to bed, you're not as young as you used to be." Donald smirked as his Uncle gasped and glared at him, 

"Mind yer elders lad." Donald waved him off and made his way upstairs, he looked at his sister's door for a moment before shaking his head and heading into his own room. He heard another door shut a few seconds later and let out a sigh of relief. He may not always act like it but he worried about his Uncle sometimes and he knew he had been staying up late a lot recently so he hoped he was getting some sleep. 

After their Uncle sent them off to bed the kids went up and lingered in the hall for a few seconds, most of them talked but noticed Louie was strangely quiet. He went into his room without a word, they shared a look and the three of them were about to walk in when the boys stopped Webby.

"Oh, I get it family thing." She said falsely absentminded and looked down. 

"It's not a family thing, it's a triplet thing." Huey explained and patted her comfortingly as Dewey nodded.

She looked up at them and smiled in appreciation, "Oh, well tell me what's up tomorrow?" 

"Of course!" Dewey reassured, "Goodnight." She said goodnight back before going to her room, the boys shared another look and headed in. They saw Louie sitting on his bed and walked over to him, he looked up and gave them a small smile. 

"Now do you wanna talk about what woke you up?" 

"Just nightmares again." 

Huey sat down next to him, "What made this one different?" 

He shrugged, "I don't know it just felt different? Like really real." 

"Do you remember it?" Dewey asked as he also sat down; Louie leaned his head on him. 

"Kinda, just vague things like a cave?" 

Huey straighten up, "Remember that nightmare I had about a month ago? It was in a cave too." 

"Weird." They went silent after that and Louie sighed before laying back in his bed, 

"It's too late for this." His brothers were about to climb up to their beds when Louie looked at them anxiously so they joined him instead. He curled between them and tried to fall back asleep as they lightly talked about everything. He eventually did as did his brothers and they slept through the rest of the night.  

They would figure everything out in the morning. 

* * *

As it turned, however, morning wasn't the best time to figure things out as they were too tired to even try. Huey woke up first that morning feeling very refreshed and looked at his brothers who were peacefully sleeping and smiled, looked like they all finally got the rest they needed. 

Thank god for that. 

He tried shifting without waking them up but Louie was a light sleep so that ended up failing. He looked at Huey as he started waking up and moaned, "What time is it?" 

Huey looked at his phone, "About nine." Louie fell back against his bed and shut his eyes, 

"Why? Why so earlier?" 

"Sorry, my body is very particular." 

Louie snorted, "More like you are you weirdo, what time did we end up falling asleep?" 

"Almost two." 

"Exactly, seven hours of sleep is not enough." Huey rolled his eyes and chose to ignore that, he kinda had a point. A few moments later Dewey also woke up and was just as annoyed as Louie had been but woke up quicker than he did. He got out of the bed as did Huey but their brother groaned and laid back shutting his eyes, they shared a look and Huey went to shake him as Dewey started getting ready. 

"So are we awake enough to talk about all that stuff yet?" 

Huey thought for a second, "Let's wait till after breakfast." He agreed then jumped on Louie's bed; he groaned and scowled at him, 

"If you love me you will get off."

Dewey quickly rolled off of him and onto the floor, "One of these days that won't work." He said glaring up at him Louie ignored him but got out of the bed and started changing. After he finished they made their way to breakfast; when they got there they noticed they were the only ones there and got confused, 

"Are we in some sort of alternate universe?" 

"You've been hanging out with Webby too much." Huey deadpanned as he looked in the kitchen. Dewey quietly mocked him in response which made Louie snicker, Huey whirled around at the sound and they both feigned innocence, after he turned back to the kitchen they shared another snicker. 

"This is really weird, should we be worried?" Huey's brothers were about to answer when the dining room door opened and Della walked in. She looked surprised to see them and noticed they were alone, 

"Donald and Uncle Scrooge said they had some business to take care of today but I don't know where the other two are..." She shrugged, "Want me to make you some breakfast?" 

"Depends, how good of a cook are you?" 

"Better than Donald that's for sure." They all laughed and moved into the kitchen, Della started cooking as the boys got in the booth, "So since everyone is busy do you guys wanna hang out today?" 

The boys shared a look and had a mental conversation; they argued about how they wanted to go forward with their plan today but didn't want to do it without Webby. And they did want to get to know her, they were convinced that this whole secret thing would work out and that they would be a complete family so they knew they had to get used to her. She wasn't that bad anyway, just a little confused about things which wasn't surprising seeing as she had been gone for ten years and they weren't as mad at her as they were before so they were willing to be patient. 

They agreed again and Dewey perked up, "Oo can we go to the ice cream shop?" His brothers also perked up and they all looked at her for a response. She pretended to think for a second before answering, 

"As long as you don't tell Donald." They agreed excitedly and hopped out of the booth as she put the stuff she got out for breakfast back. After that, they made their way out of the manor before Della realized she forgot her purse and went back in. When she came back they started down the driveway, it was silent as they went into town none of them knowing what to say but that quickly changed when they got to the ice cream shop. The boys whooped and hollered as they went and Della followed behind them with a smile; after everyone ordered they got a table and sat and ate.  

"What was it like growing up in the manor?" Dewey asked Della curiously when they got settled in and the other two stared at her as they waited for an answer. 

"Well actually we didn't move in until we were about your ages, we lived with Grandma Elvira after our parents..." She trailed off and the boys nodded in understanding, "We stayed there with Gladstone until the recession hit, Grandma couldn't afford to keep all of us so she sent us to live with Uncle Scrooge for a year and me and Donnie ended up staying." 

"So it was just you two and Uncle Scrooge?" 

"No Duckworth was there and we saw Gladstone and Fethry a bunch, we were the duck cousins after all, " She winked and the boys smiled at each other, "We saw a bunch of other family members too, like at holidays and stuff. And we had friends, I'm sure you know Mickey and Goofy?" They nodded, "Yup, them and Daisy and Minnie, Donald used to date Daisy you know." 

The boys gasped, "No way!" Dewey exclaimed in disbelief and she nodded, 

"Way they were on and off for years! I think they officially broke up after Donald went to the Navy, it was mutual and a long time coming if you ask me. And as for me, I never really dated much I was more into adventuring than anything else." 

"Oo I bet you guys went on all sorts of amazing adventures!" 

"We went everywhere there was to go," She realized she didn't like where that topic was going so she quickly changed the subject, "Have you met Panchito and José ? They're a riot!" 

"We recently went to a town in Brazil so Uncle Donald could catch up with them, we were almost eaten alive by a plant." Huey answered as he started cleaning up his brothers' messes. 

"They were so awesome, they saved the day with a song! Uncle Donald had a terrible voice but that was what made it so cool!" Louie said as he nudged Huey away from him annoyed and grabbed one of the napkins then started to clean up his mess himself. 

"Yeah he doesn't have the best voice... oh but that animal eating plant reminds me of something! Have you boys heard of the Ogeirnuin?"

"No." "Nerp." "Yes." Huey brothers stared at him and he shrugged, "What? There's a section of plants in the Junior Woodchuck guidebook." 

"Anyway," She continued, "It's indigenous to the African region and it's known for swallowing things three times the size of it! One time when we were in the African jungles we ran into one, literally for one of us, I had to fight it off with a well myself actually! Nothing but my bare fists." 

Dewey gazed at her in astonishment, "Wooow." But Huey and Louie looked at each other, 

"Bare fists, awesome song?" Huey weighed and pretended to consider it, "Awesome song."

"Definitely." Louie agreed as he subtly pushed his trash towards Huey who glared at him when he noticed and pushed it back. Della flattened when she heard that, despite things starting to patch up between them they still showed little interest in her.

But she was gonna fix that.

* * *

After they left the ice cream shop Della asked them what they wanted to do next they shared a glance and had a brief mental conversation before deciding, 

"Park!" They took off in that direction without waiting for her and she sighed then followed them. When they got there the boys went to separate things and Della went and sat on one of the swings as she watched them. Dewey was at the monkey bars trying out different moves and ignoring Huey's warnings while Louie was on the jungle gym holding his phone up, she noted that he looked frustrated as he stretched his arms higher. She wondered why and why he wasn't enjoying being at the park like his brothers were. She was about to get him to try to when her phone went off. 

She noticed it was Donald and sighed, he probably found out they weren't at the manor somehow, "Yes Donald?" 

"Where are you?!"

"The park the boys wanted to come so I brought them." 

"You could've called!" 

"Donald I am more than qualified to look after my own kids for a couple hours." 

"You had me worried sick, no one knew where you were! You could've at least told Mrs. B!" 

"I don't need a lecture I'm a grown woman!" By the now the boys stopped what they were doing and looked over but she didn't notice. 

"You're acting irresponsibly you have to think about things Della you can't just do whatever you want especially not around the boys!" 

"I'm not, they wanted to come! And I don't have to check in with someone every time I go out!"

"You do when the kids are with you, do you know how many enemies Scrooge has? What else am I supposed to think when no one knows where they are?" She was about to retort when she saw that the boys were staring at her and sighed her anger vanishing for the moment. 

"You're right I'm sorry, can we talk about this later?" 

"What? No we can't-" She hung up on him and gestured for them to join her, she would deal with the consequences later. When they got to her and looked at her expectantly she started to explain,

"Donald was just a little worried about you guys that's all." She said nonchalantly she didn't see the big deal in all of this but apparently he did. Typical Donald.  

"Maybe we should go back to the manor." Huey suggested and his brothers agreed, they knew how their Uncle could get about this stuff and even if they didn't admit it very often they hated worrying him. Plus they had other things to do today and didn't like how unconcerned Della was about this whole thing. 

"We don't have to..."

"We should." They persisted and so they left. As they walked home the boys shared a conversation and Della got lost in thought, she had hoped to have longer with the boys but it didn't look like that was happening she knew they would run off as soon as they got home. So she tried to make the most of the walk but they seemed to be in their own little world not noticing her at all. She wondered if that was normal with the three of them she knew she and Donald used to do it a lot but they didn't ever mean to and it seemed like the boys meant to.

When they got to the manor Donald swept the boys up in a hug to which they tried to fight but were unsuccessful and resound to their fate, it was mostly for show anyway. After Donald had let them go and checked them over they ran off to find Webby then he turned to his sister, 

"What were you thinking?"

"What? I said sorry." 

"That's not the point! And you only said it so you could hang up. Della, no one knew where you guys were we were worried sick! Do you not understand that?" 

She sighed, "No not really I was with them they were fine! Do you not trust me?" 

He looked down and rubbed his head, "I never said that, but someone has to know where you are." 

"Why?! I'm more than capable of taking care of them!" 

"That's not the point! Della anything could have happened and we wouldn't have known. In this family when you don't know where someone is you have to assume the worst and I really don't want to not about my boys..."  

'My boys' she bitterly said internally, "Even if something did happen I could've handled it." 

"You still don't get it, not only could they've of been in danger and no one would've known you're teaching them that it's okay to wander off and not tell anyone. You have to be more responsible." 

"I have to be this I have to be that, why can't I just be me?!" 

"Because you left, you went to space for ten years without thinking of anyone else and you went knowing you had kids on the way!" He shook his head, "Forget it, you're never gonna get it all you think about is yourself." He left after that with his head down and she sighed, what didn't she get? 

She didn't know but she was seriously starting not to care. 

 


	10. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids figure some things out and get a not-so-nice surprise.

After the boys found Webby they moved to her room and looked at the board she had set up that was already filled up with all sorts of information dealing with their situation. 

"Someone's been busy." Huey said impressed and his brothers agreed which made her beam before quickly becoming serious, 

"So what's our first step?" They all thought for a few moments before Huey came up with an answer, 

"We need to figure out what that thing is, we need to sneak into mom's room but it'll be harder, she's here a lot more than Uncle Scrooge is." 

"So one of us distracts her while the others check her room?" 

"I know where it is, I'll go in you guys distract." The others nodded in agreement, "Once we figure out what this thing is we can go from there." 

"Okay but hypothetical question, what if it's cursed?" Webby asked and Huey facepalmed.

"I didn't even think about that,"

"Uncle Scrooge did say he thought nothing in there was cursed and I may have taken some of the treasure..." Louie trailed off sheepishly rubbing his neck. 

The others looked at him incredulously, "Louie!" 

"What? I'm perfectly fine." 

Huey gave him another look, "Anyway, you should probably be careful around it maybe wear some gloves or something." 

"No prob Hue." He gave a false salute which made his other siblings giggle and Huey roll his eyes, "Are we doing this now? Let's do it now!" He jumped up and ran out as his siblings looked at each other,

"Guess we're doing this now." 

Huey groaned exasperated, "We don't even know where she is!" 

Louie laid a hand on him comfortingly, "We should go now." They walked out and went to find Della. 

Dewey walked sneakily to his mom's room, when he got there he quietly opened the door and peered inside. He sighed in relief when he saw it was empty and snuck in, hopefully his siblings had found her by now and if not well, he didn't want to think about if not. He made his way to the desk and opened one of drawers but frowned when he saw it was empty, he huffed and opened the drawer below it but it was also empty. 

'Oh no,' He thought, 'No no no.' He had to get them to stall longer somehow. After he thought for a few seconds he hit his head and pulled out his phone sending a group text in hopes that one of them would read it. He then continued to look around the room praying that it was still in here cause if it wasn't, they would have reached a dead end. He wasn't sure how much time they had to figure this whole thing out but he knew that they would have to before something really bad happened. 

After he searched for a few minutes he found it and almost shouted with relief. He quickly went grabbed it before remembering that it could be cursed and pulled back, he then looked for something protective that he could grab it with and spotted a towel. 

He shrugged, "Good enough." He grabbed it and ran out, when he made it back to Webby's room he texted the others to let them know then set the thing down and looked at it curiously. 

"It's a gold box." He deadpanned and fell back on the floor, which is how his siblings found him a few seconds later when they entered the room. They stared at him and he pointed at the box.

"It's a gold box."

"That's what I said!" 

Huey looked at it inquisitively, "There must be more to it, why would mom go to all that trouble for a box?" 

"You know," Louie started annoyed, "When we found this thing I was hoping for some answers." He picked it up ignoring his siblings' protests and began examing it, he got to one side of it and noticed something weird, a pressure plate. He pressed it but nothing happened, 

"I don't know what I was expecting," He turned to the others, "Pressure plate. Hey wait a minute, that pyramid we were in exploded randomly, this is definitely what's why-"

"And that's why Della was hiding it." Webby finished. 

"It makes sense but if this actually is was caused it then it has to be important. We have to figure out what it does somehow and quick she could figure out it's missing at any time." 

The others looked at Huey determinedly, "How do we do that?" 

Della sighed as she entered her room, she had been here almost a month and nothing had changed, well actually one thing had she was starting to get closer to the boys which was really the only thing that mattered to her. She was starting to feel like their mom and there was no greater feeling in the world but there was one thing getting in the way of that, 

Donald.

She hated to think of her brother as an obstacle but it was true, they clearly still thought of him as their sole parent. They still relied on him to help with their problems, they still wanted only him to tell them goodnight, and they still basically ignored her whenever he was around. She tried to be stern, she tried to be their friend, she even told them cool stories! But instead of making them interested her, they made them more interested in their Uncle.

She had to do something about this, but what? She knew that as long as he was predominately in their lives it would always be like this so she had to do something to fix that. She looked towards her desk and grinned, she had the perfect plan. 

Scrooge sighed as Donald paced around his office, they were no closer to figuring out what Della was hiding then they were a few days ago and it was starting to take a toll on both of them. They knew that the kids were investigating it and that just made them more worried. They had no idea what they were getting into and while he was sure Della would never hurt the kids he wasn't so sure that the artifact wouldn't. 

"Donald lad calm down we're gonna figure this oot." 

Donald paused and sighed, "I know I just can't believe she's doing this again, I hoped she learned her lesson the first time. And now with the kids..."

"Ae know, let's just hope we can solve this before it's ta late." 

"Well we can't do that if we don't know what she took!" 

Scrooge put his head in his head exasperated, "Ye dinnae think ae know that? But gettin' mad isnae gonna solve anythin', we will figure this oot." 

"I really hope you're right Uncle Scrooge." 

* * *

When the kids came down for lunch they could tell that the atmosphere was tense. They looked at each other worriedly and decided to go into the kitchen to eat so they could avoid the adults. After he saw that Donald sighed and turned to his sister, 

"Do you not realize what you're doing? You keeping secrets is driving them away! Why are you doing it again?!" 

"I told you, Donald, I'm not hiding anything, you're the one who's making something out of nothing, as usual!" 

"Della, stop trying to hide it, everyone knows all we don't know is why. Didn't you learn last time? Nothing good comes from keeping secrets!" 

Della shook her head, "But I'm not why don't you trust me? You don't trust me about this, you don't trust me with my boys, I've done nothing wrong since I've gotten back you can't keep focusing on the past!"

"I wouldn't if you had changed but it's clear you haven't; you're still selfish, you still play the victim and you've been here for almost a month and you still know nothing about the kids!" 

"I'm trying! Does no one understand that?!" 

"You have to do more than try Della you have to put in the effort. You can try all you want but that doesn't mean you learn anything, you can't even tell them apart! You don't know what they like and dislike, you don't know what makes them mad or what they're scared of and you don't know how to help them. You haven't been acting like a mom and those boys need a mom." 

"Well you keep telling me how to raise them."

"I've been raising them for ten years!" Della flinched back in shock and glared at him before storming off. She muttered angrily as she went to her room, what did he know? She was doing just fine with them, he was the problem and she knew how to fix it. She just needed to come into some more money and quickly, she didn't wanna be here any longer than she had to be.

After Della had left Donald walked into the kitchen and sighed when the kids looked at him, "You heard all of that huh?" They nodded and he sighed again, "Sorry didn't mean for that to happen she just... nevermind. Have you eaten?"

They nodded again, "Just finished actually we were gonna head back upstairs." Dewey was about to say something when Louie elbowed him as Huey continued, "Yeah we have a lot of homework to do?" The others shook their heads disbelievingly. 

"Right what are you really up to?" 

They sighed, "We're trying to figure out what that thing mom stole does." 

"Any ideas?" 

The boys looked at him shocked he wasn't mad as Webby answered, "All we know is that it caused the explosion."  

"Of course it did." 

"You aren't mad that we looked into it?" Dewey asked hesitantly.

"You would have no matter what I said, just be careful we don't know anything about it." 

They shared a look, "Do you and Uncle Scrooge wanna see it? We managed to get it from her." 

"How did you- nevermind I don't wanna know. Yes we would love to see it, wanna go get it now?" They shared another look and came up with a plan. 

"I'll go get it, Webby you and Louie go get Uncle Scrooge." The three of them left after that leaving Dewey with Donald, the former making a confused face before realizing he had been left behind and slouching in his seat. He then studied his Uncle who was staring out the window looking like he was deep in thought, 

"Uncle Donald?" 

Donald jumped slightly, "Sorry just thinking. What's up?" 

"Nothing you looked like a zombie." Donald rolled his eyes and turned to him curiously, he knew how Huey and Louie felt about all of this but not Dewey. He was a little worried to be honest, the boys were never really shy about what they really thought. 

"Dewey how are you doing with all this?" Dewey looked at him surprised but shrugged, 

"I'm kinda over everything now? Like I didn't forgive her or anything I just, got over it I guess." Donald nodded and was about to respond when the others walked in. They all gathered around the booth as Huey placed the artifact on the table. Scrooge picked it up and examined it thoughtfully, 

"Do you know what it is Uncle Scrooge?" Webby asked inquisitively. 

"Ae'm afraid not lass, not oaf the top o' head at least. Not very much is known about that pyramid, we were the first ane's in there remember?" 

"I've been looking some stuff up in my library but I can't find anything." 

"Well whatever this is Della wanted it," Donald looked at them determinedly, "And we need to figure out why." 

* * *

Everyone then decided that the best place to check was the library, Webby's had proven to have nothing but maybe the bigger one would. They all scattered as soon as they got there each with a destination in mind and starting searching. It was quiet for a while everyone being to focus on the task at hand to talk but eventually Dewey found something and called over the people who were closest to him, which happened to be his brothers.

"Guys! Come look at this!" They both came over and started reading the book their brother was holding. 

"Cybus autem est in damnatis or Cube of the Damned is said to be one of the most cursed items in the world, no one knows exactly what it does but it's only known to show itself to those with bad intentions..." Huey trailed off after that not knowing how to continue.

"So why can we see it?" 

"Anyone can see it but it only shows itself to bad people so once they find it everyone can see it, make sense?" His brothers nodded. 

"Does that mean... mom's not good?" 

"It appears so." Scrooge said from behind them they jumped and looked to see the others standing there each with different but similar expressions. Webby was sad and Scrooge was distraught but Donald had an unreadable look on his face. 

"I.. I need a minute." He walked out as everyone stared after him worriedly. After that the kids turned to Scrooge, 

"What do we do now?" 

Donald sighed as he sat in the hall, this was a lot to take in. He knew his sister could be selfish but bad? There was no way, it just wasn't possible he knew her the best he knew she couldn't be bad. 

Or maybe that's what he wanted to believe.

He wanted his sister back, he wanted the boys to have a mom, he wanted both those things more than anything but was that making him blind? Was he ignoring the obvious and subsequently putting his family in danger? He really hoped not but what other explanation was there? That cube was obviously the thing Della took and the boys read it themselves, it only showed itself to those with bad intentions. 

But his own sister? 

He really hoped not, not for his sake but for the boys, he didn't know if they could handle it. 

And he didn't want to find out. 

He went back into the library to see the others discussing something. They paused when they noticed him but he gestured for them to continue as he took a seat next to the kids. They looked at him for a second before doing so, 

"Right as ae was sayin', we need ta dispose o' this in a safe way before it's ta late and we need ta do it before Della notices." 

"The book didn't say anything about that, the only way I can think of is to take it back to the pyramid." Huey said as he snuck looks at his Uncle. 

"And how do we do that without mom finding out?" Dewey asked which made Huey falter,

"I don't know." 

"Right well until we figure it oot ae'll be keepin' an eye on it. It'll be safe in the other bin-" 

"You have another bin!" Donald said as he jumped out of his chair in surprise. 

Scrooge looked at him incredulously, "What?  Are yew daft? O' course ae do! Where do ye think all the dangerous artifacts ae collected over the years are?" 

"Why didn't you saying anything?!" 

"So they'd be safe! We're gettin' oaf topic no one knows where that is, not even Della it's the best place fer it right now." Donald slumped back in his seat as the others agreed to that plan, 

"And we'll think of a way to get it away from here without mom finding out." Huey added on and his siblings nodded, Donald was about to protest but Huey continued, "We can do this Uncle Donald trust us." He looked at their determined faces then sighed and nodded. 

"Good then we all agree, ae'll go move this now." Scrooge took the artifact and left as the others started tiding up the library. When they finished they walked out and headed downstairs, 

"Well I've had enough mystery for one day, I'm gonna go watch TV." Louie walked to the den and the others shrugged before following him, a few minutes later Scrooge joined them. 

After a few hours Della came down as well and into the den, she watched them for a few seconds and grew more and more angry. She was tired of this, she wanted her boys and she wanted them now. 

And she was gonna get them. 

She coughed to get everyone's attention and they turned to her, "I've been thinking lately, here really isn't the best place for me. I'm tired of arguing with everyone and I know you guys feel the same so, I've come with up a solution! For the past few weeks I've been here I've been saving up money and I finally have enough for an apartment!" She turned to the boys, "And I want you guys to come with me! Aren't you excited?!" They all went quiet as they tried to comprehend that, this was some huge news after all. 

Donald couldn't believe it, why was she doing this? Taking the boys away from them, from him... that's what she was doing! But why? And thinking they were excited about it, he knew when they were excited; Huey started rambling, Dewey couldn't sit still, and Louie's face lit up. None of that was happening now instead they looked completely shocked and he wasn't okay with that. 

So, he glared at her, "Why are you doing this? First the artifact and now this, what is going on with you?" 

Della turned to him shocked, "Donald this is for the best, aren't you tired of arguing?" 

"What about what the boys want?" 

"Of course they want this, right boys?" They looked at each other, then her, then each other again before coming to a decision. 

"We don't know." Huey started. 

"We need time to come to the right decision." Dewey added, then looked at Louie to see if he wanted to add anything but he was looking at the floor. 

"Della lass maybe yew should think this over." 

"I have, I'm moving out and want my boys with me, I want to get to know them."

"You can do that here!" Donald protested. 

"My decision is final, I'm moving out." And with that she walked away leaving the rest of them in silence. 

At least for a few seconds. 

Donald started pacing, Scrooge watched him as Webby watched the boys. She really hoped they wouldn't leave but it was their mom so she would understand if they did, she would do the same if it were her parents. Huey didn't know what to think but he knew he couldn't come to this decision of his own, to be honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to go or not but he knew he wouldn't go without his brothers.

Dewey also didn't know what to do, he wanted to get to know her but he didn't wanna leave everyone else to do it and he certainly wasn't gonna to make this choice without his brothers. Louie, on the other hand, knew exactly what he wanted to do he wanted to stay, he didn't want to go and leave everyone else, leave his Uncle Donald. He did want to get to know his mom but not at the cost of almost never seeing everyone else again. He wasn't dumb, he knew what she was doing by doing this, she was trying to take them away from them. She didn't want the boys to ever see them again, he wasn't sure why but he had some ideas.

All that was left to was to convince his brothers to stay. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used google translate for the translation so sorry if it's not perfect.


	11. The Decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys make a decision.

After letting Donald paced for a few minutes Scrooge got up to stop him and they talked quietly as Webby tried to get the boys out of their thoughts.

"What do you guys think you're gonna do?" 

They looked at her and then each other before Huey answered quietly, "No idea; like we told Della, we have to think about it." 

"Yeah but," Dewey added when he saw how upset she was, "It's not like we wouldn't ever see each other again." 

"Right, if we did move in with her we'd come visit all the time and we'd still go on adventures." 

Louie stared at the both of them and spoke for the first time in minutes, "You guys aren't seriously considering this are you?" 

His brothers looked at each other, "Well..." 

He stood up, "Unbelievable! We can't just leave that's, that's not right!" He stormed off as everyone looked after him and his brothers sighed then shared another look and turned to their Uncles.

"What do you guys think we should do?"

Donald sighed, "It's your choice whatever you decide to do but you all have to agree to it. We'll be fine no matter what." 

"O' course we dinnae want yew ta go but we won't stop ye if ye decide ta." They nodded and looked towards the foyer then got up. Before they left however they hugged the others and told them they loved them and that that wouldn't change no matter what they decided.

They were silent as they went not wanting to say anything until they were all present. When they got to their room Huey carefully pushed the door open and they slowly walked in. They glanced over the room for their brother and found him laying on his bed back facing them, they sighed and walked over to him then sat on his bed. 

"We're not gonna do anything without you Louie but can we at least just talk about it?" Huey said urgently and Louie turned towards them disbelievingly. 

"She's trying to get us away from them, how can you not see that?" 

"How do you figure?" 

Louie sat up and lightly shoved them away so he could get comfortable, "It's the only explanation. She says it's because of the fighting but surely there's some other way to resolve it, like talking it out. Why was that the first thing she came up with? By getting us out of here, she's lessening the amount we get to see them and it's not like we can come over here on our own so they'd have to come to wherever we'd end up which she has the ability to not allow. The only reason she's doing all of this is to get us to not see them but I can't figure out why." 

"It does make sense and with the cube..." 

"We're probably safer here." Dewey concluded, "I was having doubts too anyway, I do wanna get to know her but I don't wanna move out to do it, this is home." 

"Maybe we can convince her not to move." 

"And if we can't?" Louie asked quietly. 

"Then we tell her the truth; we're not leaving here. I wasn't gonna make a decision without you guys, we're the Duck Boys." Huey's brothers smiled at him and he smiled back. He knew as long as the three of them had each other they would be okay. 

"Should we go tell the others our decision?" 

"Maybe later," Huey decided, "Right now we have to figure out how to get that cube out here if she starts packing soon..."

"She's gonna notice it's gone." Dewey finished. 

"If she hasn't already. Seriously we've had this thing for a couple of days now, surely she's noticed something's off." 

"For everyone's sake let's hope not." 

After the boys left they fell back into silence, Donald and Scrooge appeared to be deep in thought and Webby kept looking between them, hoping for one of them to say something. But when she realized they wouldn't she took it upon herself to, 

"Do you really think they're gonna go?" She questioned quietly and they both turned to her faces softening as they did so. 

"Maybe, ae'm not a hundred percent sure." 

"No," Donald started making them look at him if for not anything else than how sure he sounded, "No way I know those boys they're not going anywhere. Now let's get back to this cube business," 

"Right Launchpad has agreed ta fly me ta Esterduck no questions asked tonight, ae just need someane ta distract her so she doesn't notice."  

Webby jumped up excitedly, "Oh me! I'm great at distracting!" Her Uncles agreed with a chuckle and set to make further plans, 

"Once that things oot o' here we shouldn't have ta worry aboot whatever her plans are with it. Hopefully, we can talk some sense in ta her and resolve any problems we have with each other, like we should've done the first time." 

"I don't know Scrooge maybe it's just better to let her move out," The other two looked at Donald shocked, "I know she's my sister and she's family but she's, she's not the Della I remember it's like that spear did something to her. And with kids here... it could be too dangerous for her to stick around." 

"Shouldn't you at least try? Family's not supposed to give up on each other." Webby said quietly and Donald sighed and bent to her level then placed a hand on her shoulder, 

"I have tried Webby sometimes... sometimes you have to do what's best for everyone and not just one person, no matter how much you want to. She's my sister, I do want to help her but not if it puts everyone else in danger, sometimes it's better to let go." 

"Donald are ye sure aboot this?" 

He got up, "I am. First the spear now the cube, she's too dangerous Uncle Scrooge." He said tiredly and Scrooge looked at him in sympathy. It couldn't be easy to realize this about your sister, especially your twin sister. But he understood where his nephew was coming from, if she was gonna be a danger to the kids' safety, knowingly or not, he didn't want her around either. So he sighed and agreed, no matter how much it hurt. 

And with that, they set off to the next part of their plan.  

* * *

But before Webby could distract Della she had a pit stop to make. She made her way to the boys' room and knocked then went in when she received a reply. When she got in there she saw the boys hanging out on Louie's bed. They all looked up when they saw her and gestured for her to join them which she did eagerly. 

"So have you guys come up with a decision yet? It's fine if you haven't I just thought I'd ask." 

"We did actually, we decided to try to convince her to stay." Huey started.

"And if we can't we're staying anyway, this is home." Louie finished and the triplets shared a secret look which she was pretty used to so it didn't bother her too much. 

"I was on my way to distract her, you can do it now." She suggested and they agreed but then Dewey faltered, 

"Distract her from what?" 

"Uncle Scrooge got Launchpad to take him to Esterduck tonight so he could bring back that cube, I said I'd distract her so she didn't notice anything amiss." They nodded in understanding and got off the bed she followed and they made their way to Della's room. 

"Is Uncle Scrooge leaving now?" 

"I'm pretty sure he is." 

"That's good enough for me, let's do this!" Dewey cheered enthusiastically and she met his enthusiasm which made their siblings roll their eyes and walk past them. Dewey glared at the back of their heads and caught up as Webby shrugged and continued on behind them. She was really glad they weren't leaving, they made her life so much better. The manor used to be so quiet before them and Donald came and her days were the same thing over and over again. She didn't want to go back to that, no matter how much she loved her Granny or how close she had gotten to Scrooge, things wouldn't be the same without them. 

They got to Della's door and looked at each other before Huey sighed and knocked on the door, "Mom, can we come in?" The door opened a second later and Della came into view she smiled at the four of them and gestured into her room. They walked in and she closed the door behind them, 

"What's going on?" 

The boys exhaled and sat on her bed seriously Webby looked at them before doing the same, "We want to talk to you about this move." 

She nodded slowly, "Okay what about it?" 

The boys shared another look and nodded, "Why are you really doing it?" 

She was about to respond when Dewey cut her off, "We know it's not cause of the fighting, so what's the real reason?" 

She sighed, these kids were too smart for their own good, "You're right that's not the whole reason, honestly... I'm tired of relying on Scrooge." She lied, "I need to get out of my own, fend for myself and I didn't say anything to them cause I knew they would make this big deal about it and it's just better if they think that's why." 

"You can do that here, get a job pay rent, you don't need to move out to be self-sufficient." 

"It feels like you're tearing this family apart." Dewey admitted quietly and her face softened, 

"That wasn't my intention." She lied again, "But this is something I need to do for me and I would really like it if you boys were with me." 

"We can't, this is our home." 

Well, she wasn't expecting that. She honestly thought they would choose to move out with her, Donald must have more sway over them then she originally thought. That was nothing that couldn't be fixed. She sighed and looked at them sadly, 

"I understand, it can be, hard to move somewhere this was my home too but I know when it's time to move on and it's time for me to move on. You really don't want to think this over more?" She asked hopefully but they shook their heads, "Okay if that's what you want, I'll come visit you all the time and you can come see me anytime you want." 

"That sounds great." They were about to continue the conversation when Webby's phone rang she looked at it and widen her eyes before excusing herself, the boys glanced at each other and shrugged. After a few seconds Dewey got a text he glanced at his phone and saw it was Webby,

'All clear.' He showed it to his brothers and they nodded then looked at Della, 

"We uh have to go help Webby with something. We'll see you later?" 

"Sure." They got up and went out of the room as Della squinted her eyes, something was going on here and she was gonna figure out what. But later, right now she needed to figure out how to put her backup plan in motion. She reached into her bedside table drawer with an evil smirk which quickly faded when she didn't feel the thing she was looking for. She pulled out the drawer frantically and looked into it, it was empty, 'that's impossible' she thought, 'no one else knew where it was. So how?' Someone had to of taken it she knew she didn't misplace it there was no way she did, someone took it but who? Her backup plan would have to wait, this was more important. 

"Wow, she is a good liar." Louie remarked after they left and his brothers looked at him questioningly, "Can't outcon a con."  

They nodded, "So now what do we do? She's obviously trying to tear us apart." 

"She lied right to my face." Dewey said sadly and his brothers frowned at him sympathetically then started comforting him. Huey wrapped an arm around him and Louie pressed into his other side, they stayed like this for the rest of the way to their room. They were just as upset as Dewey was about this whole thing it was obvious there was no reconnecting the family, not this time she had gone too far with the cube. And with the knowledge that she was actually bad... 

None of them knew what to think, just that she had to be stopped. And with the cube gone, she hopefully was. 

They ran into Donald on the way to their room and noted he didn't look good, they wondered what happened after they left but questioned if it was because he didn't know their decision yet. They shared a glance and decided he needed some cheering up, 

"We decided to stay here." Huey said quietly which made Donald look up and smile, 

"Well, that was the good news I needed." He reached down and hugged them, "But can I tell you boys a secret? I knew you would." They stared at him in wonder, 

"You did always know us best." Huey said with a smile which his brothers mirrored and they hugged him back. After a few seconds they pulled apart and the boys looked at their Uncle questioningly, 

"Why did you look so down?" 

Donald sighed, "Just came to a realization." 

They glanced at each other, "Yeah us too." He nodded and looked at them sadly, he really hated that they had to go through something like this. It just wasn't fair they deserved a good parent, better than Della. He was supposed to do that but he knew he didn't always do the best job. With Della back he had hoped the boys could finally have the parent they deserved but that clearly didn't happen. 

"It's getting late why don't you three head off to bed?" They agreed and headed to their room after telling him goodnight, he watched after them with a sigh and headed to his own room. 

For once not pausing before going in. 

* * *

When they got to their room Dewey climbed into his bed without changing, his brothers shared a look and Huey got on the ladder as Louie started putting on his pajamas. Huey sighed as he watched his brother, he was turned away from them obviously upset about all this, they all were but he knew there was something else going on. He sat down on his brother's bed and tried to get his attention, 

"Dew? What's going on with you?" 

He turned to face them as Louie looked up curiously, "Mom's bad, that's what I feared when I first found out about the spear. Selene said there was nothing she cared more about than her family but she was wrong, she cares more about herself. She didn't care that she put Uncle Donald or Uncle Scrooge through that and she doesn't care that she's tearing this family apart... Everyone says how like her I am but I don't wanna be bad, I don't want to not care about my friends, my family, you guys." 

Louie climbed up the ladder as Huey got closer to his brother, "You're not, you're Dewey, not Uncle Donald, not Della, Dewey. No one else can be you and you can't be anyone else."

"But-"

"It doesn't matter what everyone else says we know you're not her." Louie said as he also got in the bed. Dewey stared at the both of them with a smile and leaned his head on Huey. 

"Do you guys think you'll talk to mom after she moves out?" 

"Probably not, remember when I said this family was better with her in it? Apparently I was wrong." 

His brothers gasped, "Huey? Wrong? No way!" 

"It's the end of the world!" Dewey said jokingly and Huey shoved both of them playfully. But then they fell somberly silent like they just realized how bad this situation was, they had been excited to have a mom, sure they were mad at her at first but they had hoped once they got past it things would be okay. Unfortunately they were wrong, they didn't know how to handle this situation they had never prepared for it, it didn't seem like a possibility but now it was and they had no idea what to do.  

Huey's brothers looked at him expectantly and he sighed, he had no idea how to tell them he was just as lost as they were. But his silence said it all. 

"It's okay Huey," Dewey reassured him, "You don't always have to know what to do." 

"No one expects you to." Louie added on quietly and curled into Dewey's bed tiredly as Huey smiled, 

"Thanks guys." He also got settled in and Dewey looked at the two of them before shrugging and doing the same. They slowly drifted off to sleep and Dewey's last thought was of how often they had been doing this lately and how little he minded it. 

Della angrily paced her room after searching it, the cube wasn't here where could it be? The only explanation was that someone had found out what she was up to and had taken it, her money was on Scrooge and/or Donald. She tried to calm herself down so she could think rationally, okay the first step was to find out where the cube was and then go from there. 

Luckily she knew a way to do that, the cube emitted a special kind of dark energy and she knew how to track it. So, she got to work. 

After Webby had left Della's room she went to see her Uncle, to see how the trip had gone. She knocked on his office door and waited a few seconds before going in; when she entered she saw Scrooge sitting at his desk head in his hands but he perked up when he noticed her. 

"Webby! What can ae do fer yew?" 

She rubbed her arm, "Sorry if this is a bad time Uncle Scrooge I just wanted to know how the trip went." 

He sighed, "Good as it could've ae suppose, the cube's back where it belongs that's what matters." 

"I guess..." 

Scrooge looked at her worriedly, "Everything okay lass?"

"Not really," She admitted, "I'm worried about the guys, so much has happened lately and I don't know how they're taking it. I know when we were planning this whole thing we never considered this," She gestured around vaguely, "I don't think they know how to deal with it." 

Scrooge nodded, "Ae was afraid o' that let's just give them some time, are yew alright? Ae know how much ye looked up ta her." 

"I'm fine just disappointed I guess but I have other people to look up to! Like Granny and Uncle Donald and... you." He looked at her surprised, 

"Yew look up at ta me?" 

"Of course I do! You're Scrooge McDuck, greatest adventurer of all time!" 

He smiled, "Well if ye keep on the path yer on yew could surpass me ane o' these days." 

She brightened up, "You really think so?" 

"Wouldn't say it if ae didnae."  She squealed before racing over and hugging him. 

"Thanks Uncle Scrooge." He hugged her back, 

"Anytime lass. Now it's late yew should head up to bed." She agreed and let go of him then went to find her Granny; after she left Scrooge's smile faded, the boys weren't the only ones who didn't know how to deal with this. 

Della smirked as she tossed the cube in her hand, her plan had worked. It was easy enough to track it all she had to was follow the energy all the way back to Esterduck fortunately for her, she was a pilot. Unfortunately, however, the Sunchaser was pretty hard to steal and she didn't know where another plane was so she had no other choice but than to take it. The rest was easy, she flew to Esterduck got the cube again and came back, she checked the time and saw it was a couple of hours past midnight. Perfect timing. 

She knew everyone would be asleep so she would have to be quiet but she was too happy to care, she had the cube back and soon she would have her boys too. She walked into the manor and her smirked widen, 

Finally her real plan could begin. 


	12. The First and Final Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all comes down to this.

"SCROOGE!!" Donald's frightened shout came through the manor making everyone stop what they were doing and see what was going on. When they got to where Donald was he frantically grabbed Scrooge. 

"What in blazes is goin' on?!"

"THE BOYS ARE GONE!" 

The others froze and looked at him shocked, "WHAT!?" But he didn't answer any of them being too busy panicking to even notice they had asked so Scrooge tried to snap him out of it, 

By slapping him. 

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" 

"Snap oot o' it! We need ta know what happened." 

"I don't know! When I went to go check on them they weren't there, so I looked where they usually hang out but they weren't there either and they would've said something if they were going out plus it's like seven in the morning, they're never up this early when they don't have to be. They're gone, someone took them..." 

"Uh guys?" Webby said making them turn to her, "Della's gone too." 

Donald started getting his trademark angry, "SHE TOOK THE BOYS I'M GONNA KILL HERJKHIDJEIJNDJKO!!" 

"Right," Scrooge said making the others turn to him, "While he gets that oot o' his system we can start thinkin' o' a plan. Now we know Della took the boys and we know why but we dinnae know where she could be or what else she's plannin' so we have ta figure that oot first and quickly. Does anyane have any ideas?" 

"By now she's had to of figured out that the cube is gone." Mrs. Beakley stated and Webby gasped, 

"Do you think she'd hurt the boys to find out where it is?" They briefly heard Donald get angrier in the background and winced before Scrooge answered, 

"No ae dinnae but if ae know Della she's probably already figured oot that it's back in Esterduck and went and got it. Which means that we're in real trouble, that cube is no good ae've never felt energy like that befer not even with the Spear o' Selene." 

"So what do we do?" Webby asked quietly and Mrs. Beakley drew her close in an attempt to comfort her as Scrooge turned to Donald, 

"Donald, any ideas where she could be? DONALD!" Donald snapped out of his anger and looked at him, "Any ideas where she could be?" Scrooge repeated and Donald forced himself to calm down his boys were in trouble, there was time for anger later right now he needed to help them. He started to think where could she be? He could think of only one place... 

Dewey rubbed his head as he woke up, he had a killer headache. The first thing he noticed when he fully opened his eyes was that he wasn't in his room, the second thing he noticed was that his brothers were unconscious and the third thing he noticed, 

He had no idea where they were. 

But before he could worry about that he had to wake his brothers up so he shot up and went and frantically shook them both until they woke. When they did he almost sobbed in relief and fiercely hugged them, they hugged him back dazed and confused not knowing anything except that their brother needed comforting. After they pulled apart the other two looked around then turned to their brother, 

"Where are we?" 

"I don't know." 

"Why are we here?" 

"I don't know."

"Who took us?" 

"Guys!" Dewey said frustrated, "I know just as much as you, nothing!" 

Louie smirked, "So pretty much like normal then huh?" Dewey tackled him and they wrestled before Huey pulled them apart annoyed,

"Not the time! We need to figure out how to get out of here. Quick! See if you have your phone!" The three of them checked their pockets but came up empty-handed and sighed before Huey perked up and checked his hat. 

"Yes!" He pulled out his junior woodchuck guidebook and started flipping through the pages as his brothers looked over his shoulders. After a few moments, he stopped and pointed at a page. 

"How to escape a room this should work. Okay, the first thing to do is look for a window or vent, we've already done that so the next thing to do is check the door, Dewey is there handle on that door?" Dewey checked the door and made a noise of confirmation, 

"It has a lock on it." Louie perked up, 

"Out of the way boys, I got this." He made his way to the door and pulled a hairpin out of his hoodie pocket, his brothers looked at him curiously and he shrugged, "What? It's for emergencies kinda like this one." 

"Fair enough." 

After a few seconds Louie got the door open and was about to walk out when he got pulled back, 

"We need to make sure the coast is clear first."

"Right, no I knew that." They peeked out the door and looked both ways down the hall; when they didn't see anyone they slowly made their way out of the room and started to look for the exit. As they walked Louie grabbed on Huey's arm scared and he patted him comfortingly, they would safely get out of here he was sure of it. Suddenly Dewey paused making his brothers crash into him annoyed; they were about to complain when he put a finger to his beak and quietly shushed them then pointed around the corner. They glimpsed around and saw Della standing there her back to them; they then looked at each other scared and started to make their way back the way they came when she abruptly turned around, 

"Who's there?" 

They froze for a second before running in the direction they just walking towards, they couldn't let her find them. They ran for a few seconds until they reached a dead end, they started looking for a place to hide as they heard footsteps round the corner. Huey spotted a door and quickly pulled his brothers towards it, he quietly opened it and they ran inside as the footsteps came by the door. They sighed in relief and collapsed on the floor, they tried to catch their breath as they looked around the room. 

It was pretty much empty, much like the room they woke up in, there were no windows or vents and it looked like the only way out was the way they came in. It was also a bit smaller than the first room but the floor was just as hard so they felt a couple of bruises forming from when they fell on it. Louie closed his eyes and tried to sink further into the floor, 

"Okay, can we just stay here awhile? I feel like death." Huey agreed but then noticed Dewey was unusually quiet and looked at him. He was sitting up in a ball looking like he was holding back tears which made Huey's temper flare up, no one made one of his brothers look like that and got away with it. 

"She took us." Dewey said quietly and his brothers looked at him as that realization set in for them as well. 

Huey put a hand on him, "We're gonna get out of here." 

"The others must be so worried."

* * *

The others were in fact beyond worried, now that they knew where Della was it was time for action. Scrooge called Launchpad to fly them to Dalmena as everyone else geared up. Donald, despite new revelations, knew his sister well and knew if she was gonna be somewhere it was there, the only thing he couldn't figure out was what she was planning which was probably the most important part. He just hoped they could figure it out before it was too late if something happened to his boys... 

He vehemently shook his head, he couldn't think like that they would be fine they could handle themselves, he hoped, he never prepared them to deal with like this. He didn't think he'd have to. He didn't think he'd ever see Della again let alone that she would be, evil for lack of a better word. How could he have known? But then again with this family, you never knew what could happen. The one thing he could count on though is that they would get through this; they had faced worse than Della in the past and things turned out okay but the boys weren't there in the past and that really changed things. He just wanted them to be okay. 

Scrooge sighed after he got off the phone with Launchpad and looked around, Beakley was with Webby picking out weapons and showing her how to use them. Donald was... he was standing at the island looking down at it anguished which made him jump slightly, he never wanted to see that look on his nephew's face again. Truthfully as upset and angry he was about all of this he couldn't imagine what Donald was going through and he didn't think he wanted to. But he knew those lads and knew they would be okay until they got there so he made his way over to Donald and put a hand on his shoulder, 

"We're goin' ta get them back lad." 

Donald weakly smiled at him, "I know we will, I just can't help but think if I did something differently..." 

"It wouldn't have changed anythin', she would still be like this and the boys would still be gone, yew did everything ye could've." 

"It doesn't feel like it." 

"Well, ae'm sure when we get the boys back they'll tell yew otherwise." He turned to the other two, "Do we have everythin' we need?" Mrs. Beakley looked at everything they had gathered, 

"I believe so but what about the Spear?" Donald glared at Scrooge and he gave him a phony smile before answering her, 

"Ae have ta be careful with that but it should be ready ta go," He turned to Donald, "It's the only thing ae could think of ta stop her ance and fer all. She's gone ta far this time."

"Right, let's do this then."  

Huey sighed as he watched his brothers, Dewey was still curled in a ball and Louie was looking down appearing deep in thought, he was probably trying to figure out what Della was up to. He had to admit he was curious too but he mostly just wanted to get out of here and worry about that later, he didn't think they were in any real danger he doubted Della would actually hurt them but he missed the others, he missed his Uncle Donald. He pulled his legs to his chest and sighed again which made his brothers look at him, 

"This sucks." He said flatly and they widen their eyes as he continued, "We've wanted a Mom our whole lives and when we got one, it was her. It's not fair!"

"If anyone deserved a Mom it was us." Louie said quietly and looked down. Dewey stared at the both of them and their sadden expressions then got mad. Why did she have to be like this? Why couldn't she see how much she was hurting everyone? Why did the one parent they had suck? He suddenly widened his eyes, they didn't have one parent well they did but not who they thought, their Uncle Donald! How could he not see it before? Of course they always had a parent, it was just a Dad instead of a Mom! 

He abruptly shot up which made his brothers stare at him surprised, "We had a parent, we've always had a parent, Uncle Donald! Who's always been there for us? Who worked a thousand jobs just to provide for us? Who took us in even though he technically didn't have to? Who knows everything about us? Uncle Donald! He's not our Uncle, he's our Dad!" 

His brothers looked at each other then him, "We've been so blind! How could we not see that till now? Now we really do have to get out of here if nothing more than to tell him that!" Huey said determinedly and got off the floor they then looked at Louie who sighed and also got up. They went to the door and quietly opened it then peered out before leaving the room and continuing on their quest to find an escape. 

Della growled after she checked the room her boys were supposed to be in and found it empty. They escaped, of course they escaped. Oh well, she knew they couldn't have gone too far and even if they did the only way off of Dalmena was by plane so they were stuck here. For a few hours at least, she wasn't dumb she knew the rest of her family were coming for them she just had to find them before they got here, should be easy enough. 

And once she found them she could get back to do what she was before, figuring out how to use the Cube of The Damned to give herself ultimate power. And when she had all that power she would be unstoppable, nothing would get in her way not even her family. She was positive her boys would choose to stay with her too once they saw what she was capable of, what was their other option, Donald? Please, he was so overprotective of them and he couldn't give them what she could, what she would. 

Everything they ever wanted. 

Power, money, anything they could think of she would give them. They were her boys, she'd give them the entire world if she could. 

And she knew they would see that soon enough she just had to find them. It would be easy there weren't a lot of rooms in this temple and she already checked most of them. She heard footsteps behind her and smirked looked she had found them, she turned her smirk into a smile and turned around but found no one there which made the smile slip off her face and turn into a frown. She quickly took off in the direction she heard the footsteps but found no one and stomped her foot down, how were they doing this? How did they keep evading her? They couldn't be that smart, they were just kids! 

She moaned and turned back around, she would find them one way or another. 

The boys sighed as they saw Della turn around, they had managed to escape her again but they weren't sure how long they could keep it up. They hoped the others would get here soon. Louie rested his head against the wall as his brothers looked around for an exit. He didn't think they find one though, he knew the only way out was the way they came in the last time they were here or in the treasure room, they were near neither of those. Honestly things looked kinda bleak right now but if anyone could get through this it was the McDuck family he just wished he knew how. 

He couldn't figure out the angle Della was playing here and this was the first time something like that happened, he didn't like it. How could he get them out of here safely if he didn't know all the angles? He couldn't, he couldn't do anything to help the situation and he couldn't do anything to help his brothers. 

Wait. His brothers, him that was it! Della wasn't playing an angle she just wanted them! How could he not see it sooner?! He guessed he was just blinded by the fact that she was their mom and it was their first time seeing her but he couldn't think of that right now, he had a plan to make and he needed some help. 

They were gonna fix this. 

* * *

The plane ride to Dalmena was full of tension as they all finalized their plans, it was simple they would go in, find the boys, and get out. They would worry about whatever Della was planning after that, they were obviously hoping not to run into her but if they did their backup plan would deal with that. Mrs. Beakley and Scrooge would distract her while Donald and Webby found the boys. Launchpad would keep the plane running to secure a quick take off no matter how much he wanted to go in and help; Scrooge was adamant that that was help. 

After he landed the plane the others got off and headed into the temple. When they got inside they realized how big it was and came to a quick decision, 

"It'll be faster if we split up, ae'll go this way with Beakley," He pointed in a random direction, "Yew two go the other way. Keep yer phone's close ta ye in case somethin' comes up and keep each other informed." Everyone agreed and they split up; Donald and Webby started quietly looking in rooms, Donald keeping a guiding hand on her back as they did so. The last thing he wanted was trouble. 

"We're gonna find them, right Uncle Donald?" Webby asked unsurely and he turned to her and nodded, 

"Yes we are, they've gotta be around here somewhere." 

"Do you think they're okay?" 

He smiled at her, "I know they are." 

Huey thought over Louie's plan as they looked for the treasure room based on where they were right now he had inferred that they were closer to it than the entrance of the temple. His plan was simple, get out of here and find the others first off but if they ran into Della they would attempt to reason with her, they didn't want to stay with her and if she really cared about them he figured she would understand. It wasn't a bad plan if he was honest, Louie had definitely seen something they hadn't but he always had been good with angles so he wasn't that surprised by that. 

He didn't find that hard to believe that Della genuinely wanted them and wasn't just using them to get at their Dad and Uncle. He had to admit it was a little weird calling Donald their Dad but a good weird, it fit. He knew even if they lost one parent today they had another and that was okay with him, Donald was way better than Della anyway. He also knew that once this was all over they weren't gonna see her again, they didn't want to she went too far this time. Besides even if they did want to there was no way their family would allow it and he could see why, she was very unstable. 

"Are we near the treasure room yet?" Dewey asked them and Huey had to think for a second he looked at their surroundings, they weren't not near it. He gave his brother an apologetic look and he sighed, it felt like they had been walking for hours. And they probably had but they were nowhere near an exit, Dewey was starting to get frustrated he just wanted to get out of here already. 

His siblings looked at him sympathetically, they felt the same way. 

Scrooge sighed as he and Bentina checked another room and found nothing. He knew that the other two weren't having any luck either from Donald's frustrated texts but he was unwilling to get discouraged, they would find the boys eventually he was sure of it. 

"Any ideas where they could be?" 

"By now they've probably figured oot the only ways oot of this place so their either outside or near the treasure room and we're not close ta either of those places." He sighed and continued to walk down the hall they were going down. Bentina looked at him and noticed how downridden he had gotten, he never got like that she felt it was her job as his friend to try to cheer him up. 

"We will find them; if anyone can it's you." 

He nodded, "Ae know we will ae just cannae believe somethin' like this is happenin'."  

"You heard Donald that spear did something to her, it's not your fault." 

He smiled bitterly, "Ae was the ane who found the spear." 

"You couldn't have known this would've happened, no one blames you anymore." 

"Ae blame me but ae can fix it, by finding those boys and gettin' them home, where they belong." Whatever she was about to respond got interrupted by a sound from further down the hall, they looked at each other and raced towards it. Turned out Donald and Webby had the same idea as they saw them as they all entered the room where they sound had come from. 

Della. Of course. 

They had hoped not to run into her but they supposed they had to face her eventually. She was facing away from them complaining about something with fidgeting with the cube, seemed she didn't know how to work it yet, thank god for that. They shared a look and Scrooge coughed to get her attention she whirled around and smirked when she saw them, 

"I was wondering when you'd show up." 

"It's over Della," Donald stated, "We're getting the boys back and stopping you." She looked at him mockingly curious.

"And where are the boys?" They looked at each other again but didn't answer, none of them knew. Della smirk widen when she saw that, she still had a chance. She knew they would turn up sooner or later when they realized the others were there for them but until then... 

"How can you stop me if you don't know what I'm up to?" 

"With this." Scrooge held up the Spear of Selene and she widened her eyes, she thought he got rid of that! But no matter it was a small block in her plan she could easily get around it. She demonstrated this by holding out her hand and the Spear flew out of Scrooge's hand and into hers as the others gaped at her.  

"Oh phooey." 

"And now?" 

The others looked at Scrooge who looked shell-shocked, "Ae didnae except that." She smirked again and pointed the Spear at Donald who stepped back afraid. 

"You, you are the reason my boys don't want to be with me, but that'll change if you're not here!" 

"They don't wanna be with you cause you're crazy Della, you scare them! That won't change if you hurt me you know it won't." He attempted to facilitate her, "You don't have to do all of this, you don't have to be like this! Just put the spear down and stop this it's not too late." 

"You don't get it, I don't just want my boys and I want power! This cube is gonna give me that and no one is stopping me!" She blasted the others back then turned the Spear back towards Donald. 

"Especially not you!" She charged the spear and was about to shoot him when three voices came from behind her, 

"Leave our Dad alone!" 

* * *

When the boys heard the commotion their first thought was to run away from it as they thought it was just Della but when the heard the others they knew they had to go towards it. When they got to the room they took in the scene and were horrified, Della was pointing the Spear of Selene at their Dad and the others were against a wall behind him at that moment they knew they had to do something, 

"Leave our Dad alone!"

Della whirled around and dropped Donald then smiled at them, "Boys! There you are! I was just dealing with a little problem." 

"He's not a problem you are!" Huey shouted as he and his brothers helped Donald and the others up. Della sighed as she watched this, it was clear Donald was still influencing them, they wouldn't be with her if he was still around. So, with that in mind, she repointed the Spear at him and was about to blast when the boys got in front of him. 

"If you want to hurt him you have to go through us." Donald let out a frighten quack and attempted to push them behind him but they wouldn't budge. 

"Boys, move." Della demanded. 

"No, not till you stop this." Louie firmly responded and his brothers nodded in agreement, they would not be deterred. However, Della saw a chance and tried to tempt them, 

"I can give you guys everything you ever wanted." 

"We wanted a good Mom!" 

She faltered, "I am a good mom." 

"Good moms don't kidnap their sons! We don't want to stay with you, we want to be with our actual family and we're not letting you hurt them!" Dewey said making Della glare at them, fine they wouldn't come willingly she would have to make them. She raised the Sphere and blasted them away from Donald, he saw red after he saw them slump against the wall. He turned back to her with a wild look in his eyes and charged, 

"No one hurts my boys!" He went to tackle her when she raised the Spear again and knocked him away. She was about to deliver the final blow when she was tackled by Mrs. Beakley as Webby grabbed the Spear.

"Uncle Scrooge!" She called and threw it to him he caught it and pointed it at Della, 

"It's over Della." She attempted to get away but was thwarted by the other two and Scrooge did what he knew he had to.

He blasted her. 

The blast was so powerful it pushed all of them back and when they got there footing back there was nothing in the spot Della was previously in. She was gone. They let out a sigh of relief but quickly turned around when they heard a groan and saw Donald was coming to and rushed towards him. He brushed them off and quickly became panicked, 

"The boys!" They gasped as he ran towards them and followed after. Donald slid on the floor when he saw they were unconscious and hugged them to him as the others worriedly watched.  A few seconds later he felt light movement and quickly looked down as they slowly started to wake. 

"Everything hurts." Louie groaned as he attempted to sit up but found he and his brothers were in their Dad's arms and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, everyone was okay. He leaned into Donald as his brothers fully came to and to the same realization he did. A few seconds later a teary-eyed Webby joined the hug and a few seconds after that the other two joined as well.

They were all okay. 

The plane ride home was filled with noise as everyone excitedly talked to one another. Scrooge was filling Launchpad in on everything with Mrs. Beakley adding something every now and then from her seat and the kids were catching each other up on what happened while Huey and Webby were tending to the minor injuries they all had. And a few feet from them Donald was watching all of this exhausted. 

After they patched each other up the boys looked at their Dad then Webby and she smiled at them understandingly, "I'm gonna go see what Granny and Uncle Scrooge are telling Launchpad," She started to leave but then paused, "I'm glad you guys are okay." They smiled at her and they hugged again before she took off to the front of the plane. 

When she got there she stood next to her Granny and listened into the conversation. A few moments later Betina noticed her granddaughter and looked at her curiously, 

"Is everything alright dear?" 

"Huh? Oh, yeah just thought I'd come see what you guys were up to." She cast a look to the back of the plane where Donald and the boys were and Bentina made an ahing noise. 

"Yes they certainly have some things to talk about but I would say all of us do." 

Webby nodded in agreement then looked at her Granny thoughtfully, "Thank you for raising me Granny." 

Bentina smiled and hugged her, "It was no trouble dear." 

The boys made their way to their Dad and stopped in front of him he was about to question this when they suddenly hugged him. He quickly hugged them back and subtly checked them over, other than a few bruises and scrapes they seemed to be fine, thank god for that. After the hug broke the boys climb next to their Dad and sat next to him. 

"You don't mind that we called you our Dad do you?" Huey asked quietly and he and his brothers looked at Donald doubtfully but he just smiled at them, 

"I definitely didn't mind that, you have no idea how happy I was to hear you say it." 

"Why didn't you let us call you that before?" Dewey said and Donald sighed, 

"Before... before there was a chance of you having a Mom and I didn't want to take that away from you by being your Dad, I certainly didn't feel like one..." He slumped down and his boys looked at him incredulously, 

"How could you be anything other than our Dad?" Louie questioned him, "You took us in when you didn't have to, you raised us all on your own, you worked an unbelieve amount of jobs just to give us a home and you're always here for us. That doesn't sound like anything other than a Dad." His brothers agreed and Donald smiled at them as he tried not to cry, maybe he did do a good job with them after all. 

"Thank you, for everything you've ever done and will do for us." Dewey scratched his neck, "We probably don't say that enough. Thanks for being our Dad." Donald's smile widened and he grabbed them in another hug which they didn't even bother protesting, they had had a long day. 

"Thank you, for being the best boys I could ask for." 

After Launchpad had "landed" the Sunchaser in front of the manor the kids ran out as the adults trailed behind them. They all went in and the boys immediately went to their room as the others watched them worried; Donald and Scrooge looked at each other and went after them. When they got to their room they saw them sitting on Louie's bed looking deep in thought. But they looked up when they heard them, 

"Oh hi." Huey said quietly and they frowned with worry but knew what this was all about, this day couldn't have been easy for them. 

"How are ye doin' lads?" They looked at each other, 

"Bad." 

"Ae'm sorry aboot that." They stared at him shocked, "If ae hadn't had found that Spear..." Donald put a hand on him, 

"I know I blamed you for all those years and I'm sorry for that, it wasn't your fault she was the one who chose to mess with it. I just needed someone to be mad at and she was trapped so... But that doesn't excuse it, I really am sorry Uncle Scrooge." 

"Yew weren't the only at fault laddie ae'm sorry ta, ae'll forgive yew if yew forgive me deal?" 

"Deal." The boys smiled at the two of them glad they were starting to patch things up. They knew they themselves weren't okay and wouldn't be for a while but they were okay with that. They knew as long as they had their family they would okay. 

They would all be okay. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow... okay end of the story I don't know how to feel about this, I'm excited for what's next but I really loved writing this and now it's over. I was not expecting it to be this emotional... 
> 
> Well! I hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I did cause let me tell you I really love this story and this series in general so I really hope you guys enjoyed it! And I also hope your excited for what comes next I already have a story idea in mind and am super excited to write it, be on the lookout in the upcoming year! 
> 
> Thank you for all the support I really appreciate it.


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